Penalty prone Poverty Bay look vulnerable

Discipline could be the key to an upset Wairarapa-Bush victory in their opening Heartland rugby championship Meads Cup match against Poverty Bay at Gisborne on Saturday.
Poverty Bay go in as warm favourites after topping pool B in the preliminary rounds but their propensity to give away penalties makes them vulnerable against a Wairarapa-Bush side who in first-five Byron Karaitiana have one of the most accurate goal kickers in the competition
Last weekend was a good case in point. The form book said Poverty Bay should over-run Thames Valley no bother but so often did they infringe they could count themselves lucky to come away with a 29-22 win, four penalty goals helping to keep Thames Valley in the hunt right to the bitter end.
It's a situation which should have Wairarapa-Bush management stressing the need to play to the referee's interpretations in the hope Poverty Bay will again be penalised on a regular basis, thereby giving Karaitiana ample opportunity to have a big say in the end result.He has already racked 62 points in Heartland matches this season and another double figure haul could come in very handy here.
Wairarapa-Bush have good reason too to stay with their usual game plan of keeping the ball close to their forwards. Firstly because their consistency has been the feature of their team's Heartland campaign and secondly because Poverty Bay like to play an expansive style of rugby, and controlling the forward battle is obviously the best way of nullifying their attacking strengths.
The return to something like his best form of lock Tomasi Kedrabuka has been a huge boost for Wairarapa-Bush at lineout time and along with Andrew McLean and Nathan Rolls he should guarantee them a steady supply of quality possession from that department.
Same in the scrums where front rowers Kurt Simmonds, Ben Pereira and Jared Brock can confidently be expected to provide a stable platform and in the loose where the combination of Chris Senior, Joss Tua-Davidson and Rolls has that necessary mix of speed, hunger and aggression..
Rolls, of course, makes the starting XV at No.8 only through the absence of Duncan Law who is still battling a hamstring injury.
Law was a star performer in the 28-13 win over Buller last Saurday with his ability to make valuable metreage when running the ball around the fringes of the scrums and mauls and in the experienced Rolls Wairarapa-Bush are fortunate to have a replacement capable of doing a similar job.
In the backs Wairarapa-Bush will need to be on their guard defensively as their Poverty Bay counterparts are likely to launch attacks from all over the place, even more so if they are losing the forward battle and need to do something special to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
There were occasions in the Buller match last weekend when the first up tackling by the Wairarapa-Bush rearguard wasn't as secure as it might have been and while Buller weren't good enough to take advantage of those deficiencies Poverty Bay almost assuredly will be.
But it's not only in defence where Wairarapa-Bush will be wanting improvement from their backs,also against Buller there was a frustrating tendancy to rush their attacking moves and make basic passing and handling mistakes, three or four of which probably cost them tries.
The word from the Wairarapa-Bush camp is their poor finishing was the centre of attention at training this week with the emphasis being on making the right judgement calls under pressure and if they can give exciting runners like Junior Togia and Nick Olson room in which to move Poverty Bay could have their own problems defensively-speaking.
A win for Wairarapa-Bush tomorrow would put them well on the way to making the Meads Cup semis, a loss would leave them needing to beat South Canterbury in Timaru next weekend and Mid-Canterbury the weekend after to have any chance of achieving that objective.