It's Final Fever This Weekend

East Coast will be the popular underdogs when they play Marist in the grand final of the Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby championship at Memorial Park, Masterton tomorrow.
This is not so much because of statistics which show Marist have won the only two meetings between the two teams this season but because East Coast have yet to win the first division title. Twice they have made the final-in 1996 and 1999 and twice they have fallen at the last hurdle.
On the other hand Marist were champions three times in succession in the late 1990's, and again in the early 2000's, and have seldom been far away since, last season losing to Gladstone in the decider.
Strangely enough, East Coast can probably take as much confidence from their previous clashes this season as can Marist although the end results of 21-15 and 29-12 favoured the latter.
In the first of those games East Coast was looking good at 15-6 up before they had a player sin binned and Marist, in typical fashion, roared into life, scoring two late tries to win by six points in the end.
It was the much the same story second time around although Marist's winning margin on that occasion was more decisive. However, they won't need reminding that East Coast were looking very dangerous when they missed a penalty attempt from in front which would have given them the lead at a time of the second half when the momentum was clearly going their way.
That miss allowed Marist to breathe again and regather their forces and they again ran in some late tries to win by a somewhat flattering score.
You have to wonder though just how much was taken out of the Marist tank in their upset 8-6 win over competition favourites and defending champions Gladstone in their semi-final match at Gladstone last weekend.
This was a virtual "test" match for them as just about everybody anticipated that Gladstone's greater depth in playing resources would give them the edge but Marist, especially their forwards, dug deeper than ever before this season and came up with what, in the end, was a deserved success.
East Coast's semi-final win over Martinborough at Whareama was no walk in the park either with the Martinborough pack, in particular, giving as good as they received but it's fair comment to say that of the two sides Marist had the more testing assignment, and therefore the recovery process could be more difficult for them as well.
News that one of the more experienced backs in Nathan Couch wouldn't be playing tomorrow because of his selection in the New Zealand Police team to play their Australian counterparts in the curtain-raiser to the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations match at Eden Park tomorrow night would have been music to the East Coast ears too.
Couch is always a potential match winner because of his willingness to do the unorthodox even in tight defensive situations and his absence has to weaken Marist's chances of victory to some degree.
One suspects, however, that East Coast will have a few worries over the fact that the man who will reffing the grand final, Andrew Stringer, caned them heavily in the penalty count during their quarter-final win over Pioneer, especially in the mauls.
Without wanting to suggest in any way that Stringer was wrong in his decisions there is no doubt that many of his rulings confused and frustrated the East Coast players and they will need to put that out of their minds going into tomorrow's game. Hopefully for them they have addressed whatever problems there were and it won't be an issue anyway.
Whoever the referee was though there was never any doubt they would have a big impact on the grand final as, tactically speaking, both Marist and East Coast are at their most dangerous in counter attacking situations. And with the wintry conditions sure to make for more turnovers than what would normally be anticipated on a dry day application of the advantage rule will become important if the game is not to become a stop-start affair.
The certainty of a soft, if not heavy, ground surface also guarantees that much of the play will centre around the forwards and obviously the team which gains the upper hand there will have gone a long way towards taking the spoils.
The tenacity of the Marist pack has been questioned from time to time this season, and rightly so, but they have shown the ability to produce their best when the occasion demands it, and there is no bigger occasion than a grand final.
In the likes of Lee Paku, Kyle Karaitiana, Geordie Waldron and converted back Ben Couch they have a nucleus of players who know all the tricks of the trade while if there was an award for the most promising player on the club scene this season lock James Goodger would have to be a leading contender. And that's not counting No.8 Joe Nuku whose barging runs from the back of the scrum and in broken play have pretty much made him a legend in the Marist jersey over recent years.
The East Coast forwards probably got a timely wake-up call last weekend when they failed to achieve their expected superiority over the Martinborough pack Tomorrow they will be looking to repeat the form they had shown in the quarter-final success over Pioneer the week before when they were very much the catalyst to victory.
Skipper Deon Mitchell joins with Chris Starling and Darren Walker in a formidable front row, James Balfour and Joe Feast, who will play at lock rather than his usual position of flanker, will have an intriguing tussle with Goodger at lineout time and veteran Craig Stuart is a loosie who exemplifies what the word rugged is supposed to mean. No.8 TK Karaitiana actually played for Marist five or six seasons ago as a midfield back and was talented enough to make the New Zealand Marist Colts team in those days.
The loss of a player of Couch's calibre has to take some of the potency out of the Marist backline but they still have the experienced Patrick Rimene to call the shots from first-five, and finals rugby is, of course, nothing new to him. His solidness in general play and his accurate goal kicking makes him a threat in any company.
The powerful running of Phil Aporo will be another dangerous weapon in the Marist armoury as will be the speed and enthusiasm of youngsters Jareth Fox and Murray Gleeson, who have both come on in leaps and bounds this season.
Mention the East Coast backline and you immediately think of Nick Olson, whose speed and elusiveness from fullback has made him the most prolific try scorer on the local scene. Marist will need to keep him under wraps, along with pacy winger Luke Shanks and big midfield back Te Maika Mason, whose hefty punting will come in very handy in a game where conditions will dictate that playing for territory is often the best way to go.
Reflecting then on the strengths, and possible weaknesses, of the two sides this is a grand final which has all the makings of a drama-packed match with the result being decided in the closing stanzas.As we hinted before Marist will start favourites but an historic East Coast win is by no means a forlorn hope.
The likely teams are:-
EAST COAST: Nick Olson; Luke Shanks, Damien Paku, Te Maika Mason, Russell Farrell or Gary Allen; Zeb Aporo; Luke McKenna; TK Karaitiana; Ken Scott, Joe Feast, James Balfour. Craig Stuart; Chris Starling, Deon Mitchell, Darren Walker.
MARIST: Murray Gleeson; Jareth Fox, Phil Aporo, Byron Karaitiana, Jaco Pieterse; Patrick Rimene; Dearyl Pollock; Joe Nuku; Ben Couch, James Goodger,Willie Killion, Geordie Waldron; Peter Hoskings, Kyle Karaitiana, Lee Paku.
FIRST DIVISION PLATE
The main curtain-raiser on grand finals day will feature Carterton and Greytown in the playoff to decide the winner of the senior first division plate.These two sides were both eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the championship proper but ensured they could still end the season with the Hodder Steffert Cup in their trophy cabinets by winning their plate semi-finals last weekend, Carterton by just a solitary point over Pioneer and Greytown comfortably over Eketahuna
Of the two plate finalists Greytown have had the more impressive recent form but Carterton has been the more consistent over the whole season.The latter has, however, had their progress slowed by a spate of injuries which has seen practically half their regular team on the sidelines and again tomorrow they will be nowhere near full strength, with the list of missing including key players such as Justin Lett, Jono Hurley, Lance Stevenson, Brodie Duffin and Reuben Daysh.
Carterton coach Steve Hurley isn't one to make excuses though and he points to his side's 23-22 win over Pioneer when they were 22-11 down with just 10 minutes to play as being the sort of character they will have to show again tomorrow. "You can't worry about who is not there, you just have to concentrate on doing the best with what you've got," he said.
Expect big games from Joe Harwood,Tomasi Kedrabuka, Rhys Percy and Make Wakefield up front for Carterton while Neil Rodger and Charlie Walker-Blair will be expected to shine in the backs.
Greytown coach Stacey Grant has been delighted with the improvement shown by his side over the latter part of the season and says a win tomorrow would be a just reward for their efforts.Unlike Carterton they will be close to full strength with Brett Rudman, Norm Henricksen, Brett Aitken and Johnny Avatea spearheading their pack and Mike Hollis, Lawrence Matthews and the Isaac brothers, Senoa and Tavita, likewise the backs.
SENIOR THIRDS
The form book says Pioneer are the logical favourites for the senior third division grand final where they will meet Masterton Red Star but Pioneer coach Willie Harmon is quick to point to the fact this side won by just 5-3 when they met earlier in the season and he predicts another close tussle.
Pioneer like to play an attacking style of rugby with Victor Thompson and Dave Kerehi calling the shots in the inside backs and looking to use the pace of wings Damien Blake, who has already scored 13 tries this season, and Charlie Brown. Up front they are led by front rowers Victor Thompson (yes, they have two by that name) and Daniel Ranger and No.8 Jermain Hearne.
Masterton Red Star are all systems go to return the first division fold next season regardless of what happens tomorrow and some of their current senior thirds will very probably be part of the action when they do so. Coached by Shane Coley, they will be anticipating big things from forwards like Tim Hintz, Lance Edwards, Matt Miller and Nick Hutton and backs such as Adam Whale, Scott MacKenzie, Bren Pine and Meki Savaliga.
The senior thirds plate final will be between Carterton and Marist and two JAB finals will also be played at Memorial Park tomorrow, the under-11s between Marist and Masterton Red Star and the under-13 between Marist and Greytown.
The grand finals timetable is: Senior first division at 3pm, senior first division plate at 1pm, senior third division at 12.45pm, senior third division plate at 12.45pm and both JAB games at 10.30am.