Bush vow to 'do it again'

Bush are aiming to make it two on end in their sub-union clash with Wairarapa at Memorial Park, Masterton on Queen's Birthday Monday.
With the Bush side being chosen from just two clubs, Eketahuna and Bush Sports, against Wairarapa's nine clubs you'd have to think Wairarapa would have a greater array of talent to pick from but that doesn't faze Bush coach Graeme Cheetham who reckons a repeat of last year's success in the mud at Pongoroa could be on the cards.
"We'll be competitive, don't worry about that," Cheetham said yesterday. "We've got some pretty handy players up here and they are as keen as mustard to have a crack, it should be interesting."
Cheetham won't be naming his squad for the match, which will be a feature of the WBRFU's 125th anniversary celebrations, until early next week but he expects about 10 players from each of the two clubs to be part of the action. "We've planned a training run for Sunday and we will see who turns up there, that will pretty much tell us who is available and who isn't."
Meanwhile, East Coast have to be the favourites to win the Kapene Cup for being the leading team at the end of one complete round of premier division matches. Their narrow win over Carterton last Saturday left them sitting on 32 points with two games to play, three clear of Pioneer on 29. Then come Gladstone 26, Eketahuna and Martinborough 20, Carterton 19, Marist 18, Masterton Red Star 10, Greytown 3 and Featherston 0.
The cup is not a formality for East Coast though, as they are up against Gladstone who have made enough progress in recent games to suggest they could be quite a handful in front of their home crowd this weekend.
Gladstone will also have the incentive of knowing that a win brings them into cup reckoning, even more so if another of the improvers, Martinborough, knocks off Pioneer.
Saturday's draw: Carterton v Masterton Red Star at Carterton, Eketahuna v Marist at Eketahuna, Featherston v Greytown at Featherston, Gladstone v East Coast at Gladstone, Pioneer v Martinborough at Park Sportsground.
The final round of Kapene Cup matches will be on May 28 with Eketahuna playing Pioneer at Eketahuna, Greytown up against East Coast at Greytown, Marist at home to Featherston and Masterton Red Star to Gladstone.
Queen's Birthday weekend will see the start of the Tui Cup main championship with the 10 premier division clubs being divided into two pools of five, the composition of which will be dictated by their seedings at the end of the Kapene Cup although points achieved there will not be carried forward.
All first-round matches will be played at Memorial Park on Saturday, June 4 with seeds 2 and 4 (12.30pm) and seeds 1 and 3 (2.15pm) playing on the No1 ground, seeds 6 and 8 (12.30pm) and seeds 5 and 7 (2.15pm) on the No2 ground and seeds 9 and 10 (12.30pm) on the No3 ground.