EXPERIENCED: Dan Griffin is pressing hard for a starting spot in the Eketahuna team.PHOTO/FILE
EXPERIENCED: Dan Griffin is pressing hard for a starting spot in the Eketahuna team.PHOTO/FILE
Eketahuna and Gladstone will be at full strength when they meet in the grand final of the Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Union's Tui Cup premier division competition at Memorial Park on Saturday.
Both teams came through hard-fought semifinal games last weekend - Eketahuna beating Pioneer 23-15 and Gladstone downing Greytown 14-3 -unscathed on the injury front but that doesn't necessarily mean there will be no changes to their starting line-ups.
Eketahuna coach Wayne Roache admits the impact made by three of his more experienced campaigners, props Brendan Walker and Adrian Lochhead and lock Dan Griffin, when they came off the bench against Pioneer was such they were all pushing hard for promotion.
"It's given us a headache or two but it's a nice problem to have, isn't it?" Roache said. "The guys we started with last weekend did nothing wrong and would obviously be unlucky to miss out ... there's some tough decisions to make."
While he did not say as much Gladstone coach Steve Thompson will undoubtedly be pondering the positioning of key backs Inia Katia and Cameron Hayton. They were at centre and wing respectively against Greytown but there could be the temptation to bring them closer to the action, such is their attacking potential.
A cursory glance at the likely composition of the two finalists may suggest it is very much a Gladstone forwards versus Eketahuna backs scenario but neither Thompson nor Roache will buy into that debate.
Thompson is adamant his team won't under-rate the Eketahuna pack. "They have a lot of experience and that can count for plenty in games like this. They'll be physical."
Roache isn't about to bag the Gladstone rearguard either. "They have enough possible game breakers in their backs to be a real nuisance, if we let them run they'll make us pay."
Favouritism for Saturday's final will rest with Eketahuna on the basis they have already beaten Gladstone twice this season and topped the qualifying rounds of the Tui Cup by a good margin but Roache knows his side only have to look back 12 months to see what can happen when teams don't turn up with their A game. They were up against Greytown in the final then and were on the end of a hefty 47-15 defeat.
"We hardly fired a shot that day and got our butts kicked, it was a good lesson on what can happen if the attitude isn't right," Roache said. "I don't think we'll have to talk a lot about last year, most of the guys remember it pretty well."
Thompson is also of the view past history counts for nothing. "Yes, they've had a couple of wins over us this season but there was only an intercept try in it last time ... our whole focus is on winning the final."
Saturday's Tui Cup grand final gets under way on the No 1 ground at Memorial Park at 3pm preceded at 1pm by the Ryan Cup senior reserve final between Martinborough and Pioneer. The Hodder Steffert Cup premier division plate final between East Coast and Martinborough starts at 12.30pm on the No 2 ground and the President's Cup senior reserve plate final between Tuhirangi and Gladstone starts at 12.45pm on the No 3 field.
