Impact players to get chance

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell seems certain to make changes to his starting line-up for the non-championship match against Hawke's Bay at Memorial Park, Masterton on Queen's Birthday Monday.
Such was the impact made by players coming off the bench, when Wairarapa-Bush came from 19-0 down to lose 26-29 to a Wellington XV last week, that some of them must be in line for promotion to the starting line-up on this occasion.
In that category would be Greytown-Tuhirangi prop Brent Rudman, Gladstone hooker Ross Batty, Marist utility forward Corey Reid, Eketahuna No.8 Steve Olds and Greytown-Tuhirangi midfield back Kingi Kaiwai.
And then there are other players like Wellington "import" Junior Tongia, who missed the Wellington match through a hamstring injury, but who got through 40 minutes of club rugby safely for Tawa on Saturday.
If he continues to make favourable progress then he could claim one of the winger's berths for Monday's game, with the other possibly going to a relative newcomer to the Greytown-Tuhirangi club in Eli Telford, who played rugby league for Manawatu last season.
There must also be a strong chance that last season's NPC third division player of the year, Simanu Simanu, will be back at centre, after also missing the Welllington game through a knee injury.
He was at fullback for Eketahuna in their gutsy win over Carterton in a premier division club game on Saturday and while he was nothing like his usual block-busting self, he did last the full 80 minutes.
Russell said he would not be finalising his team for the Hawke's Bay game until probably Friday at the earliest, with the selection process being complicated by the fact that a number of squad members were still carrying niggling injuries.
He is optimistic though, that whatever the composition of the side, they will give a strong account of themselves against a Hawke's Bay team made up of players who will be desperate to press claims for selection in their union's NPC premier division side for 2006.
"It's all about building on that second half effort against Wellington," he said. "We played well then, but we will need to do even better to be competitive on Monday?.. a lot better in fact."