Injuries put Cup plans on hold

A spate of niggling injuries has delayed the naming of the Wairarapa-Bush team to play King Country in a Lochore Cup semifinal match at Te Kuiti on Saturday.
Coach Kelvin Tantrum had hoped to confirm his starting XV after Tuesday's training session but with lock Brandon Young (ankle) and flankers Joss Tua-Davidson (knee) and Tommy Sargent (hamstring) all having fitness worries, he won't be making that call until after another training run tonight.
"Right now, we are pretty hopeful all three will be OK to play but we can't say that for certain," Tantrum said yesterday.
Young and Tua-Davidson have been regular members of the starting line-up most of this season and were two of the better performers in the 22-43 loss against King Country in the last of the Lochore Cup preliminary matches last weekend.
Sargent, on the other hand, has mostly played second fiddle to Rupeni Temani on the openside flank but has consistently made a good impression with his aggressive intent coming off the bench and his promotion to the starting XV for the semifinal would be no surprise.
Expectations that hard-tackling second-five Sam Mitchell, who was unavailable for last weekend's game for personal reasons, would return to the fray on Saturday have been dashed, with Tantrum confirming he would not be travelling north.
It is likely Jeremy Te Huia and Byron Karaitiana will now be paired in the five-eighths, with Nick Olson being retained in the fullback role.