Coasters start hot favourites

East Coast will start the hottest of favourites in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match with Marist at Memorial Park, Masterton tomorrow.
The Coasters have had a couple of hiccups this season, with losses to Masterton Red Star and Martinborough, but not nearly as many as Marist who have fallen off the pace with some very indifferent form in recent weeks.
In Murray Gleeson, Daniel Blong and Kahu Matenga Marist have some of the most promising backs in the region but the option taking of the rearguard as a whole has lacked maturity, and therefore their promise has seldom been realised.
Up front too Marist have their share of talented players such as lively lock James Goodger, skipper Anthony Balks and experienced loosie Geordie Waldon but again they have struggled to consistently operate as an efficient unit.
The best chance Marist have of making a close game of it tomorrow is if East Coast adopt tactics which allow for regular movement of the ball for that would encourage a greater likelihood of broken play situations from which Marist could possibly capitalise.
One suspects, however, that East Coast coach John Pereira won't fall into that trap and that the message to his troops will be to focus on dominating the forward exchanges before they try anything too rash in the backs.
It will be a big day at Memorial Park for East Coast supporters as their colts side will also be on show there in a Manawatu competition match against Levin Athletic.
The last time Greytown and Masterton Red Star met in a premier division match the latter managed to secure a narrow victory and they can expect to again have their work cut out when they clash again at Greytown tomorrow.
Greytown have made steady progress over recent weeks and it will be interesting to see how a Masterton Red Star side which has the best win-loss record in the competition cope with their hustling, bustling style of play.
In Byron Karaitiana Masterton Red Star have arguably the best goalkicker at club level and if Greytown are disciplined enough to largely nullify his influence an upset win is not beyond them.
There mightn't be much in the Gladstone v Pioneer encounter at Gladstone too.
Consistency has not been a long suit of either of them this season and that, of course, adds to the difficulty of predicting a result here. Gladstone will probably fancy their chances of having an edge up front while Pioneer will likely see their backs as giving them the advantage.
Martinborough are at home to Eketahuna in what should be yet another closely-contested match. The former have unearthed a strong contender for Wairarapa-Bush selection in hooker Adam Marshall, who was so impressive with his barnstorming runs against Masterton Red Star.
Along with in-form loosie Jared Hawkins Marshall will spearhead a Martinborough pack which can expect some torrid times from their Eketahuna counterparts. Whoever wins the forward battle should win the game.
Carterton will be aiming for maximum points when they travel to Pongaroa to play Puketoi but while they should come away with a win they won't find it easy to manage four or more tries against a Puketoi side which is performing better than their no-win record would suggest.
Queen's Birthday Monday will be a testing time for aspirants for this season's Wairarapa-Bush Heartland championship squad with a virtual trial match against a Wairarapa XV and a Bush XV being played at Memorial Park. These clashes were, of course, a regular occurrence before the two unions merged in 1971 but they have been far and few between since then.
However, hopes are that Monday's game will again become an annual event on the local rugby calendar and in these days when the real meaning of grassroots rugby is being continually diminished it's heartening to see at least one move going in the other direction!
A detailed preview of the match will be published in tomorrow's Times-Age but just to whet the appetite this is what the starting line-ups could look like:-
Bush XV: Chris Creek; Rupeni Temani, Simon Finnie, E.Feo, Greg Harding; Jason Liverton; Andrew Fergus; Duncan Law; Sully Alsop, Jared Bambry, Brendan Young; Josh Tua-Davidson; Brendon Walker, Jake Tipene, Craig Lawrence.
Wairarapa XV: Jono Hurley; Nick Olson, Jordan Watene, Sam Mitchell, Rob Atkinson; Jason Kjestrup, Zeb Aporo, Nathan Rolls; Jared Hawkins, Andrew Compain, Andrew McLean, Joe Feast; Kurt Simmonds, Willie Leota, Brett Rudman.
Also in tomorrow's Times Age will be a sports quiz, the prize for which will be two tickets provided courtesy of the Wellington Rugby Union to the All Blacks v France test in Wellington on June 20.