Eketahuna on a roll

Eketahuna women's rugby team are on a roll.
Hard on the heels of winning the Fleurs Trophy for being the leading side at the end of first round matches in the Wellington premier division competition, comes the news that two of their players have been included in a 26-strong Black Ferns training squad and eight are trialling for the Wellington Pride representative team
It is nothing new for first-five Rebecca Mahoney to be part of a Black Ferns squad as she has been a member of the past two World Cup-winning combinations, the most recent of those successes coming in England towards the end of last year.
Joining her is centre Shakira Baker who has been on the fringes of Blacks Ferns selection for the last couple of seasons.
The 2011 itinerary for the Black Ferns has still to be confirmed but it seems likely they will play a home series against Australia and Mahoney admits this is the main reason for her again being available for international duty. She has never played a test for her country in New Zealand and is keen to have that on her CV before she calls it a day.
Mahoney expects Baker, who lives in Greytown, to have a long future in the Black Ferns. "She's just about got everything ... speed, strength and aggression, she can be very intimidating."
Ask Mahoney how many of the Eketahuna players trialling for Wellington Pride are likely to actually make the team and she is emphatic. "All of them, they all deserve it", she said.
Mahoney and Baker are, of course, in the certainty category and others in the reckoning are forwards Kelly Hunt, Shaan Waru and Emma Aldworth and backs Maia Tua-Davidson, Heidi Whitman and Laura Gavin.
Eketahuna's Fleurs Trophy success was guaranteed after they hammered defending champions Norths 34-12 last Saturday.They have the bye when the first round ends tomorrow but Norths are now 6 points adrift and cannot make up the leeway.The best they can do is finish 1 point in arrears.
Never before has a Wairarapa-Bush team won a Wellington competition but while Mahoney labels their effort as "absolutely brilliant" she stops short of predicting that Eketahuna will also take out the main championship which gets under way on May 21.
"Yes, we can do it but there's at least a couple of teams who can knock us off and we'll have be on our guard," she said.
It was hoped Eketahuna would host Norths as part of the WBRFU"s 125th anniversary celebrations on the Sunday of Queen's Birthday weekend but with Norths having some players who can't play on Sunday, that won't happen. Just who Eketahuna will play then will probably be confirmed early next week.
Meanwhile, East Coast should regain the lead in the WBRFU Kapene Cup premier division club competition when they play Carterton at Whareama tomorrow. The Coasters lie 2 points behind Pioneer and with the latter having their second successive bye this weekend, they are ideally placed to hit the front with just two series of matches to be played.
Carterton are, of course, nothing like the side that won the premier division title last season with practically half that squad no longer with them but coach Steve Hurley is an astute tactician and he will be working towards having them ready to pounce when the main championship begins. Their best chance of an upset win here would be if the rains come and a muddy surface slows up the pacy East Coast backs.
Featherston gave Carterton a fright last weekend when they came close to breaking their "duck" on the points table and Gladstone will need to be wary of them in their match at Gladstone tomorrow. Here, too, the weather could be a huge factor for if Gladstone are forced to keep it tight they could find the fiery Featherston forwards more than a handful. Eketahuna host Greytown and again it's a case of one team - in this case Eketahuna -starting a warm favourite but the other being capable of making it a lot closer than most pundits might think.Word is that talented loosie Joss Tua-Davidson will be returning to the Eketahuna fold after a lengthy injury break and no doubt the Wairarapa-Bush selectors will be keen to take notes on his fitness.
Freshened up after their bye last weekend Marist will take on Martinborough at Memorial Park and with there being just the one point between them on the competition ladder an interesting battle is in prospect. Don't be surprised if this one goes right to the wire with goal kicking the decisive factor.