Forward dominance the key to victory

Achieving dominance up front will be a prime objective for both Eketahuna and Gladstone in their Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby semi-final match at Eketahuna on Saturday.
Eketahuna coach David Smith sees that as being the best way to nullify the attacking brilliance of the Gladstone backs and his Gladstone counterpart Steve Thompson echoes those sentiments about the Eketahuna rearguard.
Which is hardly surprising when you consider that in Hamish McKenzie, Jon Guillard, Simanu Simanu and Dan White, Eketahuna have a group of proven attackers in their backline while Gladstone have had no fewer than five of their backs in the Wairarapa-Bush squad this season, namely James Bruce, George Williams, Mike Shaw, Angus Crisp and Matt Easton.
Interestingly enough, McKenzie and Bruce shared the halfback duties when Wairarapa-Bush won the inaugural Heartland championship last year but they are unlikely to clash head-to-head on this occasion.
Instead, with promising youngster Corey Broughton shaping well in the halfback role, Eketahuna seem certain to have McKenzie one place further out at first-five, a position which he has filled capably in the past.
Bruce, for his part, returned to the Gladstone line-up in their surprisingly big 35-3 win over Carterton last weekend after being sidelined for a couple of games with a foot injury and his playmaking abilities were patently obvious.
Gladstone, who had been the dominant team throughout the grading round, showed nothing like the same consistency in the top six round and actually went into last Saturday's fixture needing a win to make it through to the semis.
Coach Thompson is taking a positive stance to Gladstone's mixed form though, saying that it was character building and meant his players would be taking nothing for granted in what is now a sudden death situation.
"I'm feeling fairly comfortable where we are at the moment, there were some good signs last weekend and we're as ready as we will ever be," he said.
"We know what happens when you let your standards drop and hopefully that won't happen again."
Adding to Thompson's confidence is that the injury hassles which have plagued Gladstone in recent times have disappeared and he will be able to name a full strength combination.
Which means that Gladstone are likely to start with as many 10 current Wairarapa-Bush reps in their squad, the backs named earlier being joined by forwards Mike Spence, Steve Wilkinson, Andrew McLean, Kurt Simmonds and Richard Puddy.
Remarkably, Eketahuna's number of past or present Wairarapa-Bush players could also stretch into double figures & backs, the aforementioned White, Simanu, Guillard and McKenzie and forwards Steve Olds, Solly Alsop, Josh Mackey, Dan Griffin, Brendan Walker and Angus McMillan.
Eketahuna have, of course, been the form team in Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby over the past decade and coach Smith is optimistic that they are again peaking at the right time.
"We've had our ups and downs but we've lifted our level over the past few weeks and are about where we need to be," he said.
Eketahuna and Gladstone have met twice so far this season with Gladstone scoring a big 30-5 win in their qualifying round match and Eketahuna gaining revenge with a 20-16 win in their top six encounter.
The likely starting XVs for Saturday are:-
EKETAHUNA: Dan White; Alan Hutchings, Simanu Simanu, Jon Guillard, Chris Terry; Hamish McKenzie; Corey Broughton; Steve Olds; Solly Alsop, Rob O'Neale, Dan Griffin, Josh Mackey; Brendan Walker, Adrian Lochhead, Angus McMillan.
GLADSTONE: Matt Easton; Logan Uys, Dave Drummond, Mike Shaw, Angus Crisp; George Williams; James Bruce; Mike Spence; Steve Wilkinson, Andrew McLean, John Stevenson, Marcus Totman; Kurt Simmons, Richard Puddy, Aaron Cook.
The referees for the senior first division semis were confirmed yesterday with Graeme Reisima controlling the Eketahuna v Gladstone match and Andrew Stringer the Marist v Pioneer encounter.
Meanwhile, the battle for the second grand final spot in the Wairarapa-Bush senior second division competition will continue in earnest on Saturday when the final round of qualifying games is played.
Martinborough, with 18 points, are already assured of being one finalist but with East Coast on 11 points, Masterton Red Star on 10 points and Puketoi on 9 points it is still anybody's guess who will join them there.
Saturday's draw sees Martinborough playing East Coast at Martinborough and Masterton Red Star up against Puketoi at Pongaroa.
The semi-finals of the senior third division championship will also be staged on Saturday with Marist Red Star meeting East Coast at Colombo road and Marist playing Greytown-Tuhirangi at Memorial Park No.3.