Five teams desperate for victory

Semi-final spots will be up for grabs for five teams contesting Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby competition matches tomorrow.
Already assured of home advantage in the semis are East Coast (65pts) and Masterton Red Star (59pts) but there is no such surety about the chances of Martinborough (48pts), Pioneer (47pts), Greytown (45pts), Marist (45pts) and Gladstone (43pts).
Each of them will be desperately seeking a win tomorrow in what is the final round of preliminary round games to boost their chances of making the top four and, even then, there is the possibility of the countback system having to be used to separate them.
Under that system the first countback criteria will be the results of the matches between the teams involved, followed by points differential, number of competition wins achieved and number of tries scored.
Martinborough might be the best placed of the five contenders leading into tomorrow's matches but they also have to play East Coast, the defending champions, at Martinborough.
Their first round game saw Martinborough secure an upset 25-19 win and that was given added merit by it coming at Whareama, East Coast's very own "House of Pain".
The fact East Coast are already through to the semis could, of course, mean they will be keen to play most of their reserves on this occasion so as to keep their key players fresh and fit for the following weekend and that would undoubtedly aid Martinborough's chances of repeating the first round result.
No one could quibble at the East Coast tactics if that was the case because their previous results have given them that luxury and, what's more, it makes good sense considering the challenges which lie ahead.
Whatever the make-up of the East Coast side, however, Martinborough certainly can't afford to take anything for granted and they will be looking to impose their usual hustle-bustle style of rugby on their opposition from the word go.
They will also be acutely aware that East Coast have backs who only need the sniff of a scoring opportunity to put points on the board so a tight defence will be crucial to their prospects.
Pioneer takes on Greytown at their Jean street grounds and you can bank on this being as tense and exciting as their first round clash won by Pioneer 5-3.
Both teams have experienced players who will be expected to have a big say in proceedings here, notably Nathan Rolls, Tommy Harmon and Joe Papaali for Pioneer and Brett Rudman, Norm Henricksen and Lawrence Matthews for Greytown.
It would be no surprise if this one comes down to which team kicks the most goals and neither are by any means foolproof in that department.
Gladstone are sure to have a big crowd cheering them on against Marist at Gladstone as they will be celebrating both old-timer's day and the opening of the two completed towers for their new lights.
They thumped Marist 42-10 last time round but Marist have improved markedly since then and a much closer battle seems assured tomorrow.
The probability is that Gladstone will aim to keep the ball close to their forwards and rely on the likes of Kurt Simmonds, Richard Puddy and company to call the tune while Marist will want to unleash the attacking skills of backs like Nathan Couch, Daniel Blong and Murray Gleeson.
The other premier division games tomorrow see Masterton Red Star playing Puketoi at Memorial Park and Eketahuna playing Carterton at Eketahuna and with semi-final spots not resting on either result some entertaining fare should be provided.