Pioneer, Marist to do battle

Marist and Pioneer will be out to break their"duck" when they meet in a Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition match at Memorial Park, Masterton tomorrow.
Both teams came away with nothing to show for their efforts in the opening series of matches last weekend, Marist taking a 30-13 beating from Gladstone and Pioneer being on the end of a surprise 27-14 loss to Puketoi.
Marist, for their part, could fairly claim though that their final scoreline did not do justice to their performance for they competed strongly against Gladstone for most of their game.
However, a lack of finish to their attacking movements didn't help their cause, and neither did the fact that a few of their players gave the impression of being short of a gallop.
It will be that latter situation which Pioneer will look to expose tomorrow for while they are a young side with a lack of experience in some key areas they will very probably have a clear edge on Marist for fitness.
One assumes then that the Pioneer tactics will be to play the game at pace with the idea of literally running Marist off their feet and just how successful they are in that respect is likely to decide their fate.
Marist, of course, will have different ideas. They will want to play a more structured type of game so as to allow the tactical nous of old hands in their backline like Patrick Rimene,who was missing last weekend, and the Couch brothers,Nathan and Ben, to have the biggest say in the end result.
An intriguing contest is in prospect then with Marist perhaps starting favourites, but only just.
EKETAHUNA V MARTINBOROUGH
Eketahuna had the bye last weekend and make their first official appearance of the 2008 season tomorrow when they front up to Martinborough at Eketahuna. Anybody assessing the form of these two sides in recent seasons would be anticipating a comfortable Eketahuna victory but past history might not count for anything here.
Martinborough impressed as a fit and enthusiastic unit when they somewhat surprisingly beat Carterton 15-0 last weekend and will have taken considerable confidence out of that performance.
And they will be well aware that an Eketahuna team missing several of last season's squad could be ripe for the picking, especially at this early stage of the season when coach Mike Davis is still in the process of sorting out combinations.
Eketahuna will be typically rugged up front but without the likes of Hamish McKenzie and Simanu Simanu to call the shots they could find the Martinborough backs more than a handful.Therefore the chances of the southerners chalking up a second successive win have to be rated highly.
CARTERTON V EAST COAST
Carterton will be intent on dominating the forward exchanges in their match with East Coast at Carterton. Not only because that is where their own strength lies but because if the Coasters even go close to sharing possession the attacking brilliance of players like fullback Nick Olson will make them a dangerous foe.
It was Olson who scored the crucial last minute try for East Coast in their win over Greytown last Saturday and new Wairarapa-Bush coach Kelvin Tantrum is sure to be keeping close tabs on his progress over the next few weeks.His speed and elusiveness is not in doubt and if he can consistently prove his defence is also up to scratch representative selection must be a strong possibility,at either fullback or wing.
The big question for East Coast tomorrow though is whether they can attain enough ball to allow Olson to regularly impose himself on the game. They will probably struugle in the set pieces at least, areas in which the experience of Carterton's Joe Harwood and Tomasi Kedrabuka is sure to be a telling factor.
On the subject of Kedrabuka it is known the Suburbs club from Auckland which already has two former Wairarapa-Bush players in Simanu Simanu and John Dodd playing for them have expressed an interest in the lanky Fijian joining them as well. Watch this space!
GREYTOWN V GLADSTONE
Greytown will have the benefit of home advantage when they play Gladstone but whether this is enough to produce what would be an upset win is doubtful, to say the least. They do have enough sting in their backs to make matters interesting but the Gladstone forwards are likely to deprive them of the quality and quantity of possession needed to turn that into points on the board.
The individual efforts of three newcomers to the Gladstone line-up this season will be carefully scrutinised with an eye to the future. Flanker Ed Taylor, first-five Dean Grant and midfield back Jordon Watene all made huge impressions against Marist last weekend and if they can maintain that sort of form representative honours could beckon.