No sense to pre-season preparations

Having Wairarapa-Bush front up to premier provincial rugby sides as part of their lead-in to the Heartland championship no longer makes sense.
The three hefty defeats suffered in recent weeks by Wairarapa-Bush at the hands of Wellington (49-0), Hawke's Bay (79-0) and Manawatu (76-7) are a classic illustration of the huge gulf which now exists between those unions who have a strong professional base and those who don't.
It's not as if any of the three sides mentioned above were at full strength either & far from it in fact.
The Wellington side contained players only on the "fringes" of senior A selection, Hawke's Bay fielded an entirely different side from what which had whipped Poverty Bay 97-0 a few days earlier and Manawatu were without no fewer than 11 of their contracted players because of injury.
Perhaps the situation has been exacerbated this season by the fact new Wairarapa-Bush coaches Graeme Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson have had only a handful of last season's Heartland championship winning side available for any of the games to date. Indeed, none of the seven players who were included in the New Zealand divisional side which made a brief tour of Argentina last year have yet to take the field but of them it seems only hooker Joe Harwood is in the category of definite starter for the Heartland games of 2007 anyway.
But, whatever the make-up of this year's Wairarapa-Bush side, the situation has clearly been reached where union officials need to revamp their pre-season programme, and coach Cheetham himself readily agrees that should be the case.
Cheetham says Wairarapa-Bush are basically on a hiding to nothing against the unions who pay relatively big money for their players, and who start preparing for their Air New Zealand Cup campaigns in November or December.
"It's a different world now & the Heartland teams just don't have the resources to even hope of having close games against those sides," he said. Cheetham said in all three pre-season matches they had played to date, the Wairarapa-Bush players had lacked nothing on the score of endeavour but that was not enough to worry an opposition which was bigger, fitter and more skilled.
"You couldn't fault our players for the way they have got stuck in and at least tried to be competitive but these days that's not enough, you have to have all the other factors as well," he said.
Cheetham admits the calibre of the opposition had not made it easy for him and Stevenson to decide the composition of their Heartland squad.
"We just haven't been able to win enough ball for anyone to show their attacking qualities and that's a concern," he said. "Right now we have to rely mainly on club form in that respect."
In Cheetham's mind if the Wairarapa-Bush union are committed to matches against neighbouring unions like Wellington, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu they should request that those unions play their "B" or even colts teams against them so as to ensure better competition for both sides. "We need to have meaningful games otherwise nobody gains,' he said.
Meanwhile, Cheetham and Stevenson are still intent on utilising only local talent for this season's Heartland campaign. In previous seasons Wairarapa-Bush has invariably brought in "imports" from Wellington to strengthen their squads but Cheetham said they would only go there this year as a last resort.
"We are still of the view that the players we have here now are capable of doing well at Heartland level and we're keen to give them that chance," he said.
But, at the same time, Cheetham also emphasised that he and Stevenson were only interested in players who were prepared to work hard, both on their fitness and their skill levels.
He said a number of the current squad members still had to bring their fitness up to acceptable standards and they would be closely monitored in that regard.
"Fitness is often the key to success and we can't afford to have concerns there," he said. Asked if there were any positions which were more of a worry than others, Cheetham nominated first-five and openside flanker as possible areas of concern.
"We don't seem to have a lot of depth there at the moment and we now need to sit down and see what the options are " he said
Wairarapa-Bush have their final pre-season game against Poverty Bay in Gisborne on August 11 and the following week they will play West Coast at Masterton in the opening series of Heartland matches.
Their full Heartland programme is: v West Coast in Masterton on August 18, v Thames Valley at Paeroa on August 25, v King Country at Masterton on September 1, v Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin on September 8 and v Mid-Canterbury at Masterton on September 15.