Early points high on Russell?s agenda

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell has a strong start at the top of his wish-list for his team's NPC third division grand final match against Horowhenua-Kapiti at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
Aware of the effect nerves can have on players in matches of this importance, Russell considers that the team which handles the settling down period best and gets early points on the board will have a significant advantage.
"The first 20 minutes can be crucial in a game like this," Russell said.
"Teams can be at their most vulnerable there, and you don't really want to come out of it in catch up mode. Points scored then often count for plenty when it comes to the end result."
With that in mind Russell has no intentions of having his team adopt a more conservative stance than usual in the opening quarter.
"Finals rugby is all about attacking, of not holding back," he said.
"You've got to be prepared to take the chances when they come, because there might not be too many of them anyway."
At the same time though Russell wants his side to be disciplined in their approach, and to not get offside both figuratively and literally with Wellington referee Chris Pollock.
He is mindful of the high penalty count inflicted, fairly or not, on this side throughout this NPC season and knows the dangers of that being repeated again on Saturday
"We have to quickly come to terms on how the referee interprets certain laws," he said.
"We can't afford to get frustrated in games like this?we have to keep our cool and get on with it."
Most of the penalties incurred by Wairarapa-Bush this season have come in the tackled ball area and a major focus at Tuesday night's training session was on ensuring that any problems there were rectified.
"We concentrated on things like players going for the ball staying on their feet and on the importance of properly securing the ball if we take it in ourselves," he said.
"The players know what they can and cannot do??hopefully we won't have any problems there this time round."
Russell said the urgency shown at that training session evidenced how hungry the Wairarapa-Bush squad were to finish their season on the highest possible note.
"There was a ton of enthusiasm there, and there was a sharpness about their work too," he said.
"Everybody understands that we have to be full on for this one and the intensity is there, no doubt about that."
Russell agrees that in some of their NPC games this season Wairarapa-Bush have been guilty of not realising their potential, but he is quick to note they have scored something like 40 tries while conceding just 11.
"When you look at the statistics we haven't gone too badly, have we?" he said. "And we've won seven on the trot??that's not too bad either."
Injuries are delaying the naming of the Wairarapa-Bush starting line-up for Saturday's game with two of the key forwards, lock Tomasi Kedarabuka and hooker Rob Foreman, both having shoulder concerns which kept them out of any contact work on Tuesday night.
It goes without saying what a huge loss they would be should they not be able to play on Saturday but Russell is taking a positive stance, saying he was 'very hopeful" that both would take the field.
But if the worst comes to the worst Corey Reid would come off the reserve bench to replace Kedarabuka as would Ritchie McDonald for Foreman.
"Right now we are bracketing them, but Tomasi and Rob are tough characters and I have a feeling they will be there," Russell said.
If that is the case then the starting line-up is likely to be exactly the way it was for the semi-final against Buller last weekend.
That would mean Steve Olds again being selected ahead of Sylvanus Iro at No.8 and James Bruce edging out Hamish McKenzie for the halfback post.
With Horowhenua-Kapiti expected to place the emphasis on forward domination the ruggedness of Olds and Bruce could be valuable in what are sure to be torrid opening exchanges.
And it would allow for Iro and McKenzie to utilise their attacking skills to exploit weaknesses in a hopefully tiring Horowhenua-Kapiti defence later in proceedings.
A possible Wairarapa-Bush starting line-up is: Bart Viguurs; Esava Teko, Simanu Simanu, Nathan Couch, Marika Kau; Patrick Rimene; James Bruce; Steve Olds; Daimon Neal, Mike Robinson. Tomasi Kedarabuka or Corey Reid, Sam Henderson; Dylan Higgison, Rob Foreman or Ritchie McDonald, Joe Harwood. Reserves: Hamish McKenzie, Tom Harmon, Glen Bunny, Logan Ili Ashley Wells.
Two curtain-raiser matches will be played before Saturday's big game with the Wairarapa-Bush secondary schoolgirls team taking on their Horowhenua-Kapiti counterparts at 11.50am and then the Wairarapa-Bush under-16s playing the Wairarapa-Bush under-15s at 1pm.
Crowd sizes are always difficult to estimate but it is thought that about 4000 watched last Saturday's NPC semi-final game and Wairarapa-Bush officials are hopeful of building that number to at least 5000 this weekend.
The final will kick off at 2.30pm and will be televised live on Sky Sport.