Rugby
Wairarapa-Bush and Wanganui will be taking a similar approach to their Steel Cup representative rugby match at Wanganui today.
Both teams have named extended squads and have already made a commitment to giving all players game time, meaning the game has not been given first-class status.
For Wairarapa-Bush, it will be their last serious hit-out before they travel to Oamaru for their opening Heartland championship match on August 24 and it must be disappointing for head coach Mark Rutene and assistant Paddy Gough that as many as eight players are likely to be missing because of injury or work commitments. In that category are backs Inia Katia, Tapaga Isaac, Nathan Hunt, Teihana Brown and Nick Olson and forwards Nathan Iro, Campbell Lawrence and Rimataei Mururai.
Of that number you would have to think Katia, Isaac, Hunt and Olson have already done enough to make their Heartland spots relatively safe but big efforts against a team the calibre of Wanganui would have helped to convince Rutene and Gough the remaining four were ready for exposure at the higher level.