Loosies could dictate outcome

Hansells Wairarapa-Bush are taking a common sense approach into their Heartland championship rugby match with Thames Valley at Paeroa tomorrow
As co-coach Graham Cheetham said this week management and players readily accept this assignment will be far different from that of seven days ago when they ran in seven tries and thrashed a hapless West Coast 46-0
To say West Coast aided and abetted Wairarapa-Bush in their endeavours on that occasion would be the understatement of the year.
Their handling and passing skills wouldn't have done justice to an average primary school side and you couldn't talk about their structure on defence because there wasn't any.
In fact, one hates to think what the final scoreline might have been had Wairarapa-Bush not dropped their own standards for a good part of the second half.
They were little better than the Coasters then but with a 29-0 halftime lead and their opposition performing so badly their complacency was understandable.
Taking the foot off the pedal at any stage of tomorrow's games mightn't be such a good idea though.
Thames Valley won't be lacking anything on the score of confidence after their 13-7 victory over Mid-Canterbury in their Heartland game last Saturday.
By all accounts they are not a flashy side but under the coaching of former All Black selector Ross Cooper, who actually played for Wairarapa-Bush in the good old days, they will have a strong appreciation of the importance of doing the basics well.
It was the ruggedness of the Thames Valley forwards which apparently paved the win for the victory over Mid-Canterbury and the odds are they will place considerable emphasis on gaining ascendancy over Wairarapa-Bush up front as well.
To that end the surety of their lineout play would have heartened Wairarapa-Bush last weekend with both Tomasi Kedarabuka and Dan Griffin ruling the roost in that department. Griffin, especially, had a fine game and the Eketahuna middle rower, who also shone against Poverty Bay the weekend before, has quickly developed into one of the mainstays of the current side.
No doubt the Thames Valley spies will have noted, however, that Wairarapa-Bush did have some concerns at scrum time against a West Coast pack which was not hugely efficient in that area themselves and, consequently, they will be fancying their chances of gaining a decisive edge there.
In defence of the Wairarapa-Bush pack or more particularly their front rowers though the West Coast props did seem to apply somewhat dubious tactics at times without feeling the wrath of the referee. In days gone by a bit of "biff" would have sorted things out rather quickly but with so many "official" eyes on the players now that hardly ever happens & more's the pity!
Perhaps a more disconcerting part of the Wairarapa-Bush forward effort against West Coast then was their habit of turning over possession in the rucks and mauls as well as the tackled ball situation. Coach Cheetham put that down to the ball carrier being too often isolated and so the emphasis at training this week was on quicker and more constructive support play. Loosies Mike Spence, Steve Olds and Mackey will be expected to lead the way in that respect and how they cope could have a big say in the final outcome.
It was hard to rate the attacking skills of the Wairarapa-Bush backs last weekend. Normally you'd expect such a good number of tries to indicate they were running hot in more ways than one but the tendency of their West Coast opposites to pay little heed to positional play, especially on defence, did make life rather easy for them. Again it will be a different story tomorrow with Cooper's input guaranteeing the Thames Valley backs are at least structured in their attacking and defensive patterns.
There was one hugely encouraging sign from the Wairarapa-Bush back play last Saturday, however, and that was the cut and thrust displayed by centre Simanu Simanu, who, even allowing for West Coast's defensive deficiencies, looked close to the form which saw him named NPC third division Player of the Year two years ago. Simanu has had major injury hassles since then and to see him moving so freely bodes well for the future.
It was also good to see young winger Jordan Fox showing plenty of strength and dash in scoring the most spectacular try of the match as he has appealed as a very promising prospect for a couple of seasons now and while another relative newcomer in John Dodd was seldom put under pressure at first-five there was an impressive calmness about his play.
Who then to win? The magnitude of their success last weekend would normally see Wairarapa-Bush starting firm favourites but, as said previously, that can be pretty much forgotten when assessing their chances in Paeroa as the opposition there will be considerably stronger. Sitting on the fence is probably the smart thing to do but with one eye closed we'll plump for Wairarapa-Bush by less than 10 points..
B'S depleted
Injuries and unavailabilities have combined to deplete the Wairarapa-Bush B side which will meet their Thames Valley counterparts in the curtain-raiser at Paeroa tomorrow.
Wairarapa-Bush played their full part in an entertaining fixture against a lively Manawatu under-23 side last weekend but at least three of the stars of that effort in Dave Drummond, Nathan Rolls and Lee Paku won't be making the trip north. And either will be Nathan Couch, who fractured his jaw in three places in the early stages of the Manawatu game and will probably miss the remainder of the representative season.
Co-coaches Steve Thompson and Sid Tatana were still unsure of the make-up of tomorrow's side going into their training session last night. But Thompson was still optimistic they would come up with a squad capable of giving a good account of themselves.
"It will be challenging but I'm sure the guys who make the trip will do us justice," he said.
On the home front the Wairarapa-Bush under-20s are scheduled to play Manawatu at Memorial Park tomorrow in a match kicking off at 2.30pm. It will be preceded by a women's match featuring the Barbarians and Kuranui College.