No divided loyalties, says Greytown coach

Ritchie Robertson could be accused of having a foot in both camps leading into the grand final of the Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Union's Tui Cup premier division competition at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.

Robertson is coach of Greytown but also has close ties with their opposition, East Coast.

So close, in fact, he is their delegate on the WBRFU council of clubs and was joint coach of their premier division side with John Pereira when they won the title in 2008.

Robertson is quick to dismiss any suggestion he is going into the competition decider with a "dollar each way" attitude.

He says his focus is on helping Greytown win their first premiership since 1996 and the second since 1992 when he was in the coaching role.

And, typically, he is quick to claim the underdog tag, noting that while Greytown did finish the qualifying round of the Tui Cup as top seeds, they have played East Coast twice this season and lost both times.

"They have to be the favourites ... they've beaten us twice and have a lot of players who have already experienced grand finals rugby, we don't have that."

Robertson sees East Coast playing their usual free-flowing style of rugby and he knows the dangers of letting their backs cut loose on a regular basis.

"They are the sort of team who can create tries out of nothing so we have to make the tackles count, we can't afford to give them any time and space."

East Coach coach Mark Percy has been coached by Robertson at both club and representative level and isn't surprised he is trying to play down Greytown's chances.

"He's pretty cunning but he won't fool us, the record book speaks for itself. Greytown are the form team of the Tui Cup and if anybody is to start favourite it has to be them.

"They know how to guts it out, they play with a lot of heart and make you work hard for everything you get."

Both teams could be missing key players for the final because of injury problems: Greytown's lively halfback Joseph Sio and East Coast's hooker Sam Barber.

Meanwhile, Carterton will meet Pioneer in the Hodder Steffert Cup premier division plate final.

The maroons beat Eketahuna 28-22 in the semis - it was initially reported the other way around - while Pioneer won by default from Bush Sports.