Champs face another toughie

Defending champions Eketahuna are in unfamiliar territory leading into their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match with Carterton at Carterton tomorrow.
The one-point loss suffered at the hands of Pioneer last weekend would have been a shock to the system of a team which has made a habit out of winning over the past three seasons, and it will be interesting to see how quickly they can put it behind them.
Having Carterton as their next assignment is not exactly the ideal situation either, as the maroons have emerged as serious contenders for the premiership in 2006 and will see this match as an ideal opportunity to further advance those claims.
It was Carterton's forwards who could take most of the credit for their team's 11-10 victory over Greytown-Tuhirangi last weekend, and they will be expected to carry the can tomorrow as well.
In Joe Harwood, Bertus Buckle, Tomasi Kedarabuka, Langi Peters and Andrew Compain they have five forwards in the current Wairarapa-Bush rep squad compared to Eketahuna's one., Steve Olds.
Mind you it would be dangerous for Carterton to under-rate the Eketahuna pack as just a couple of weekends back the expectation was they would struggle to contain the Gladstone eight, but they came through that assignment with flying colours.
If the Eketahuna forwards can come close to breaking even in the possession stakes, their backs are certainly capable of calling the tune. In Hamish McKenzie they have a dangerous runner in the halfback role and, of course, they have the pace and strength of Simanu Simanu and Joji Tamani out wide. There is though a question mark over Simanu's fitness as he missed Wairarapa-Bush's match with a Wellington XV on Tuesday because of a knee injury.
The Carterton backs struggled with their option taking against Greytown-Tuhirangi and will need to do better here.
Their focus will obviously be on keeping the ball close to their pack and in that case their tactical kicking skills will be put to the test.
Pirinoa will be the venue of what should be another interesting premier division match, that between Greytown-Tuhirangi and Marist.
Greytown-Tuhirangi had reason to feel they should have at least shared the honours with Carterton last weekend in a game where their backs also struggled to make good use of the handy supply of quality possession won for them by their forwards.
They will certainly need to lift their game tomorrow as with Paddy Rimene calling the shots, Marist will be looking to unleash the attacking skills of players like Lawrence Matthews, Phillip Aporo and Ben Couch.
One Greytown-Tuhirangi forward who will be looking for a big game is prop Brent Rudman who made quite an impact when he came off the bench for Wairarapa-Bush on Tuesday.
Another big effort here and he will be pressing hard for a place in the starting XV on the representative scene.
Marist will also need to keep a close watch on the hard running Greytown-Tuhirangi loose Sylvanus Iro who was a constant threat to Carterton last weekend with his surging bursts.
He wasn't quite so prominent for Wairarapa-Bush though, perhaps taking a little while to come to grips with the new hair style.
I know one rugby writer who was fooled for practically the whole game, constantly telling his mates that the bald-headed flanker out there couldn't possibly be the usually dread locked Iro.Wrong again!
The Paku Cup will be on the line when East Coast and Gladstone clash at Whareama.
Both teams had last weekend off under the questionable (for want of a better word) two bye system, and it will be interesting to see what effect, if any, that has on their performance. On paper Gladstone should be able to dominate the forward exchanges, and they will probably have the edge in the backs as well. The Coasters though are seldom easy to beat at home, and their form this season has been good enough to suggest that if Gladstone have an off day they will be ready to pounce.
Pioneer, fresh from their upset of Eketahuna, will start warm favourites in their match with Martinborough in Masterton?.no, not at Memorial Park, but at the Park Sportsground.
Last weekend's result was certainly a feather in the cap for Pioneer and they are always a handful for any opposition when their confidence is running high. By the same token, however, they will need to be wary of Martinborough who might not have many "name" players in their side but who seldom lack anything on the score of endeavour.
Their spoiling type of game could make this a physical encounter and discipline could consequently play a big part in the end result.