Friendly fixture has strong appeal

Wairarapa-Bush have the chance to play a "friendly" against East Coast in the lead-up to the 2008 Heartland rugby championship.
A spokesman for the East Coast union verified yesterday they had officially requested the WBRFU board consider an offer from them to travel to Masterton at a time suitable to both unions.
East Coast also contested the Heartland championship but are in a different pool than Wairarapa-Bush for this year's competition.
They have yet to play a "warm up game" this season while Wairarapa-Bush have had two, suffering hefty defeats at the hands of a Wellington XV (98-0) and a Hawkes Bay XV (77-0).
Wairarapa-Bush were also scheduled to play another of the Air New Zealand unions, Manawatu, last Tuesday but the match was cancelled at the eleventh hour because of a spate of injuries and unavailabilities.
Whether or not the WBRFU will support the East Coast offer was expected to be known today but judging by comments made by chairman Bryan Weatherstone at the time of the Manawatu cancellation a positive response seems likely.
He said then the gulf between Air NZ preparation for the championship proper.
and Heartland unions had reached the stage where the Wairarapa-Bush's of the rugby world would be better served by playing other Heartland teams as part of their preparation for the championship proper.
While emphasising that it was a board decision, Wairarapa-Bush coach Kelvin Tantrum indicated yesterday that a "friendly" with East Coast made strong appeal as it would provide a good chance for the locals to be judged against teams of their own calibre.
"Yes, it would be a more meaningful game than what we have had so far in terms of gauging exactly where we are at," he said.
Tantrum was at pains, however, to stress that he did not want to cause any major upheavals to clubs as they worked towards the finals of their senior first division championship.
"Hopefully we can organise something without that being a problem," he said.