No shocks in semi line-up

There are no surprises in the Wairarapa-Bush starting line-up for their Lochore Cup Heartland championship rugby semi-final match with Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin on Saturday.
The only change to the team which initially took, the field in the 67-23 win over East Coast at Memorial Park last week comes at prop where Gladstone's Kurt Simmonds replaces the injured Dylan Higgison. Simmonds will play at tighthead which means Brett Rudman moving to loosehead.
Slight question marks did exist over two of the other positions in the pack. Andrew McLean and James Measor were in direct competition to be Tomasi Kedrabuka's locking partner and McLean's strong performance against East Coast was always likely to give him the nod.
He took down some useful lineout ball and was mobile about the paddock.
Also needing an impressive effort against East Coast to retain his place for the semi-final was openside flanker Joe Feast who was being challenged by Mike Wilson for that role.And Feast rose to the challenge, maintaining a high workrate whether it be on attack or defence. The fact he gives Wairarapa-Bush an extra lineout option was always going to be in Feast's favour as well.
In the backs, his return from injury saw the reliable Mike Shaw pressing hard for selection at second-five but so well did John Guillard play there against East Coast, and in the previous game against Poverty Bay for that matter, his retention was widely anticipated.
As was the choosing of Jordon Watene at centre after he too made a good impression in the East Coast match.Junior Togia was tried in that role for a couple of earlier Heartland games in an attempt to boost his side's attacking potential but he does seem best suited to the wing, and that's where he will be in Levin.
Probably the most interesting aspect of the selection for Saturday's fixture is that Wairarapa-Bush coach Kelvin Tantrum has done away with the experiment of having five forwards and just the two backs on the bench. The split will be the usual four forwards and three backs on this occasion.
Tantrum says enthusiasm was running high at Tuesday's training session with players and management keen to at least partly get redemption for their slow start to the season.
"Obviously we would have liked to be competing for the top prize in the top section but that's not the way it is, and the Lochore Cup is what we want now," Tantrum said. "Win on Saturday and we are into the final, that's the only result we are thinking about ".
Protection of possession will be a key part of the Wairarapa-Bush game plan on Saturday with Tantrum well aware of the danger posed by the skilful Hoirowhenua-Kapiti loosies if they are allowed to isolate the ball carrier.
"They thrive on turning over ball and spreading it quickly, we have to stop them from doing that," he said.
"Our support play has to be tight, we have to get to the breakdowns in numbers."