Last years finalists open club season

It will be a case of all roads leading to Gladstone when the 2008 Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition gets under way tomorrow.
There the home team will commence their defence of the title they won last year with a match against none other than the beaten finalist on that occasion, Marist, and another enthralling battle is on the cards.
Even a cursory glance at the respective strengths of the nine first division sides would point to Gladstone being a short-priced favourite to win the championship again , such is their depth of talent at both back and forward.
However, Marist will be well aware that early-season matches often produce surprise results as teams battle to get their combinations into some semblance of order and they have enough experience in their ranks to turn that situation into a positive outcome.
For that to happen the Marist forwards will need to show that the loss of their two impressive locks from last season in Cory Reid and Mike Hughes, both of whom are overseas, and the groin injury almost certain to keep hard-running No.8 Joe Nuku sidelined hasn't harmed their competitive edge.
Especially so at lineout time where Gladstone have a plethora of players capable of making a huge impact&players; like Andrew McLean, John Stevenson, Wills Clinton-Baker, Tim Fleming and Steve Wilkinson.
The likely absence of Nuku will also see Gladstone fancying their chances of dominating the looser aspects of the forward game too where Wairarapa-Bush skipper Mike Spence is sure to lead the way.
Gladstone will be mindful though that Marist have a backline with enough attacking talent to turn even 30 per cent of quality possession into a winning advantage. Patrick Rimene and Nathan Couch will again be calling the shots for them behind the scrum with Phil Aporo,Lawrence Matthews and a promising newcomer in Te Ari Mahuri all capable of turning any space given them into points on the board,
With that in mind the Gladstone tactics could well revolve around having experienced halfback James Bruce keeping the ball close to his forwards as he did so brilliantly in last year's grand final.The odds are then that he will be the catalyst to a relatively comfortable Gladstone success.
Pioneer would normally be expected to call the tune in their match against Puketoi but news that Puketoi have won all three of their pre-season games will have Pioneer making the trip to Pongoroa with some trepidation.
They will know they have a number of potential match winners in the likes of loosies Nathan Rolls and Lee Ewe and backs Hoani Peacock, Jamie Smallman and Joe Papaali but they will also know the ruggedness of a Puketoi pack led by Ewan Small, Jared Bambry, Duncan Law and Victor Marine will make life difficult for them in the forward exchanges. And also that in Jason Liverton Puketoi have a first-five with the tactical nous to keep his pack on the front foot.
A Pioneer win is still the most likely result but it very probably won't come without a decent struggle.
Martinborough's chances of upsetting Carterton at Martinborough will depend to a large degree on their ability to cope up front with a Carterton pack which will have a couple of old hands in Joe Harwood and Tomasi Kedrabuka as their spearheads at scrum and lineout and a surfeit of talented loose forwards, including Reuben Daysh, Brodie Duffin and Patrick Cassidy.
If, however, the Martinborough pack rises to the occasion they have enough attacking skills in their backline to keep Carterton guessing, players like inside backs Ryan Renata and Keiran Te Whare and pacy fullback Greg Wilson.
The money here will be on Carterton but again there are no certainties about it.
East Coast and Greytown have had some interesting battles over the years and tomorrow's encounter at Whareama should be no exception to the rule although so depleted are the Coasters through injury you'd have to think that Greytown would have the edge.
The southerners have enough experience in the likes of Brett Rudman and Norm Henricksen to control the forward battle while the Isaac trio, Tavita, Tapanga and Senoa, are sure to be prominent in the backs.
East Coast for their part do have huge pace in the outside backs with fullback Nick Olson the obvious threat there and their hope will be that players like him and midfielder Saan Aporo get the chance to stretch their legs often enough to test the Greytown defence.