Forward battle key to Eke’s success

Just how much quality ball they can obtain will decide Eketahuna's fate in their Wellington premier division grand final women's rugby match against Northern United at Porirua tomorrow.
Norths have already beaten Eketahuna twice this season by dominating the forward exchanges and their tactics are sure to revolve around that happening again.
They won't mind going from lineout to lineout or scrum to scrum and the launching pad for most of their attacking ploys will very probably be the "pick and go" or rolling maul.
Eketahuna struggled to make any impression in set piece play in their thrilling 15-10 semi-final win over Johnsonville last weekend.
But they were able to pull off a remarkable win with only 30 per cent of possession by a mix of tenacious defence, clever attacking play from their backs and Johnsonville's habit of turning over ball at vital times through basic mistakes.
Norths will be a very different kettle of fish though.The reason they have remained unbeaten all season has been their ability to retain possession for long periods and they are likely to be much more clinical in their finishing than was Johnsonville.
There is no question, however, that if Eketahuna can gain even a hint of parity with Norths up front they have the speed ,flair and tactical nous in their backs to pull off an historic grand final win in what is their debut season in the Wellington competition.
In first-five Rebecca Hull they have a playmaker with the happy knack of making the right decisions at the right time and the midfield combination of Maia Tua-Davidson and Shakira Baker is lethal, both with the power of their running on attack and the ferocity of their tackling on defence.
Baker scored both of Eketahuna's tries against Johnsonville and it is amazing to think when watching her maturity that she is a pupil at Wairarapa College with her best rugby years still ahead of her. To label her a Black Fern in waiting is no exaggeration.
Perhaps the unsung hero of the Eketahuna win over Johnsonville though was halfback Laura Gavin who spent a lot of the game trying to clear ball while on the back foot, and did a fine job of it too.No doubt Norths will look to put her under the same pressure tomorrow but she clearly won't lack anything on the score of courage.
If the bookies were operating on the grand final they would have Norths as short priced favourites and rightly so but the pressure of the occasion often does strange things to teams and individuals carrying that tag.
Eketahuna have everything to gain and nothing to lose and that could be just enough to tip the scales their way.