Moment of truth looms!

Ruatoria tomorrow could be the defining moment of the 2006 season for the Wairarapa-Bush rugby side.
Their bid to follow last year's NPC third division title win with similar success in the inaugural Heartland championship will be given a huge lift if they can beat East Coast on their home turf.
Victory will almost certainly guarantee Wairarapa-Bush a place in the top six playoffs where the major trophy, the Meads Cup, will be up for grabs, but a loss will leave them needing at least one win in their last two pool games for that to happen.
And with the opposition there coming from the two sides who were always likely to be their toughest rivals in pool play , North Otago and Mid-Canterbury, they could suddenly find themselves with their backs to the wall.
If the form book is any guide Wairarapa-Bush should beat East Coast, and comfortably too.
They have registered just one shy of the maximum 10 points in beating Buller and West Coast in their first two Heartland games while East Coast have lost to both Mid-Canterbury and Buller.
But there are two very good reasons why complanecy should have no part to play in the Wairarapa-Bush performance.
Firstly, playing East Coast at Ruatoria is a lot different from meeting them in Masterton, or anywhere else on the planet for that matter.
Anybody who has ever watched rugby at Ruatoria will tell you that the environment is something special, and that it favours the home team no end.
The vocal support alone is probably worth a couple of tries to the Coasters, and you can bet the closer the scores get towards the end of the game, the closer the spectators will get to the field of play.
When it comes to sheer parochialism they very definitely take the cake!
Secondly, Wairarapa-Bush might be going into tomorrow's match with wins over Buller and West Coast under their belts, but as team management and players readily concede they have yet to perform anywhere near their potential.
The 31-18 win over West Coast last Saturday was especially ugly, with Wairarapa-Bush struggling to get a pass mark in any phase of the game against opposition which was spirited, but lacked anywhere near their own skill level.
In fact, it was probably only the superior fitness of Wairarapa-Bush which enabled them to score two late tries and secure victory in a match they should probably have won by 30pts or more.
The problem for Wairarapa-Bush then, and in the Buller fixture a week earlier for that matter, was that their game plan too often lost shape simply because they failed to do the basics well.
The passing amongst the backs was dreadfully inept at times, the option taking was poor, the lack of communication at lineout time allowed their opposition to steal possession without really having to work for it, the tackling in close quarter play was indecisive and all too often in both attacking and defensive situations the ball carrier became isolated from his supports.In short, they did the simple things badly.
A similar effort tomorrow and it's safe to assume that East Coast will profit to a far larger degree from Wairarapa-Bush's inadequacies than West Coast did seven days earlier.
For starters they have more experience in key positions and that alone will be a big assist.
Not surprisingly then Wairarapa-Bush coach Peter Russell has been stressing to his side the importance of significantly reducing their error rate, while at the same time still utilising the mobility of their forwards and the speed and flair of their outside backs.
Eyebrows would have been raised at the decision to place the side's most consistent forward in lock Tomasi Kedarabuka on the reserve bench, but it's been made for good reason, a slow recovery from a bout of 'flu and a slightly sprained ankle.
It will be comforting though to Wairarapa-Bush management though to know that Kedarabuka can still be brought into the action if the lineout play suffers through his absence.
He has consistently been the "go to" player this season, and it will be interesting to see whether the likes of Langi Peters, Mike Robinson and Sam Henderson are capable of making a similar contribution in that area.
Interesting too will be to see who starts in the back row, with Mike Spence and Brodie Duffin being bracketed in that position. Spence got the nod last weekend and was a willing first cab of the rank whenever attacks were launched from the base of the scrum.
However, the defensive work around the rucks and mauls did stiffen when Duffin joined the action later on, and that just might be enough to give him the edge on this occasion.
Reducing the risk factor should be a prime objective for the Wairarapa-Bush backs tomorrow, and fullback Peato Lafaele and wingers Francis Seumanutata and Junior Togia will be in the spotlight there. They were somewhat muddled on defence last weekend, all too often trying to run the ball out of their own 22 when the safety of the touchline would have been the better option.