Eketahuna pair called into team

Eketahuna duo Daniel Elms and Brendan Walker have been called into the Wairarapa-Bush rugby team to play Manawatu in a non-championship match at the Rugby Institute at Palmerston North tomorrow night.
In what is the last hit-out for Oldfields Wairarapa-Bush before they challenge Canterbury for the Ranfurly Shield at Jade Stadium, Christchurch on July 11, Elms will be at fullback and Walker at prop.
For Elms it will be his debut appearance for Wairarapa-Bush and it comes on the back of some impressive club form. He replaces Carterton's Glen Bunny, who suffered a reccurence of his groin injury in a club game against Marist on Saturday.
Walker is no stranger to representative play although he has struggled to command a berth in the Wairarapa-Bush squad over the past couple of seasons. He gets his chance tomorrow after first choice prop Dylan Higgison was ruled out with a leg injury which forced him to leave the field during Greytown-Tuhirangi's win over Pioneer at the weekend.
While Walker has the odds against him to make the starting line-up for the Shield match if the ever-reliable Higgison is available, it's a very different story for Elms.
Fullback has emerged as the most difficult position to fill after the earlier non-championship games with Wellington and Hawke's Bay.
There is still some chance that Dutch international Bart Vigurrs, who was such a success when converted from first-five to fullback last year, will wear the Wairarapa-Bush again in 2006 but he is very unlikely to be on deck for the Shield challenge.
Therefore a sound game from Elms tomorrow night (game start 6pm) and he could find himself running onto the hallowed turf at Jade in three weeks time.
Comments from Wairarapa-Bush coach Peter Russell do, however, suggest that Elms is by no means the only member of his squad still to confirm a place in the team for the trip to Christchurch.
Russell is adamant that form tomorrow night will play a big part in the selection process for the Shield game, and said the onus was on all players to show they were worthy of what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Right now we don't have anyone pencilled in for Christchurch??..Manawatu will be a good testing ground in that respect," he said.. "Playing for the Shield is something special and the players who take the field for that match will deserve to be there."
Apart from that of Elms the most interesting backline selection in the starting XV is that of former Buller winger Junior Tongia, who has been "imported" from the Wellington-based Tawa club.He is a proven try scorer on the provincial scene- having scored three for Buller in two games against Wairarapa-Bush last season- and with Wairarapa-Bush having a dearth of quality wingers he could be just what the doctor ordered.
Starting on the other wing will be Pioneer utility back Tom Harmon who played well there against Hawke's Bay but who looked a little out of sorts when his Pioneer team lost to Greytown-Tuhirangi at club level on Saturday. He needs to show consistency to command a regular berth in the Wairarapa-Bush side.
In the forwards the return of last season's inspirational skipper Mike Robinson has to be a plus.Robinson announced his retirement from rep play after leading Wairarapa-Bush to the NPC third division title last season but has been persuaded by Russell to have a change of heart because of the lack of experienced middle rowers about.
Robinson, who has been playing regularly for Upper Hutt in the Wellington club competition, is unlikely to captain Wairarapa-Bush this season though with Carterton hooker Joe Harwood being given that honour tomorrow night, and likely to retain it for the remainder of the season if all goes well.
That coach Russell is talking about the need for Wairarapa-Bush to come up with an "80-minute performance" tomorrow night is not surprising.
In their losses to Wellington and Hawke's Bay they dominated 40 minutes of the action and were clearly outplayed in the other 40.
"Obviously it would be nice to win but the main thing is to have the team focussing for the full 80 minutes," he said. "We have to get consistency in that respect, you can't expect to win matches by playing well for just a half a game."
Russell doesn't believe the problems which have faced Manawatu recently, including the withdrawl of their coach, will have an adverse effect on the home team's performance tomorrow night.
He said their players would be on trial for places in their NPC premier division squad and would therefore be determined to come up trumps.
"They have a lot to play for and I'm sure that will come out in how they perform," he said. "They won't want to lose to any side playing a tier below them, that's for sure."
A likely Wairarapa-Bush starting XV is: Daniel Elms; Tom Harmon, Simanu Simanu, Nathan Couch, Junior Tongia; Patrick Rimene; Hamish McKenzie; Mike Spence; Sam Henderson, Mike Robinson, Tomasi Kedarabuka, Sylvanus Iro; Brett Rudman, Joe Harwood, Brendan Walker. Reserves: James
Bruce, Lawrence Matthews, Mike Shaw, Duncan Rutherford, Chris Senior, Steve Olds, Cory Reid, Bert Buckle, Ross Batty.
The Wairarapa-Bush B's will play their Manawatu counterparts in the curtain-raiser tomorrow with coach Steve Thompson optimistic of a strong showing despite it being their first match of the season.The squad is:-
Forwards: Blair Gardner, Victor Marine, Peter Mawhai, Angus McMillan, Bruce McKenzie, Matt Cox, Andrew McLean, Sam Walsh, Jared Bambry, Jarod Hawkins, Tim Fleming, Stacey Grant.
Backs: Joe Hull, Cameron Stone, Te Maika Mason, Jimmy Logue, Kingi Kaiwai, Owen Coulson, Lance Stevenson, Joji Tamani, Thomas Te Kani.