Playing at night is all right, says Grant

Greytown coach Stacey Grant won't be blaming the playing conditions if his team performs below par in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match with Eketahuna at Eketahuna tomorrow night.
Desperately needing the maximum five points to stay in contention for the semi-finals Greytown will be confronting an Eketahuna side whose home advantage has possibly been increased by the game being played under lights with a 7.30pm start.
However, don't expect Grant to be using the situation as an excuse if his side fails to pick up the four points for a win and an extra bonus point for securing four or more tries.
"We train under lights all the time so I can't see why it should be a problem," Grant said.
"We were asked what we thought and it was a mutual decision to play a night game, we are looking forward to it."
Grant takes the view, in fact, that the more night rugby is played in the Wairarapa-Bush the better, both because it freed up the odd weekend for players and their families and it provided something different for spectators.
"Honestly I think it's got a lot going for it, I'm all for it " he said.
Grant admits consistency hasn't exactly been a strength of his Greytown squad this season with the side tending to play their best rugby against the better sides, as they did when they toppled defending champions and present competition leaders East Coast by a comfortable 20-3 about a fortnight ago.
"We've had some really good games and some really ordinary ones, it's been a bit frustrating from that point of view," he said.
A major catalyst in the win over East Coast was flanker Tommy Sargent who dominated the battle for the loose ball and who featured in several stirring runs.
He has been one of the Greytown success stories up front, along with old hands Brett Rudman, Norm Henricksen and Johnny Avatea.
In the backs Greytown have benefited hugely from the return of another experienced campaigner in Lawrence Matthews whose tactical nous at first-five has been impressive, and the attacking skills of the Isaac brothers, Tavita and Senoa.


Coach Grant is anticipating a rugged match against an Eketahuna team which has no chance of making the semis but which, on their day, are capable of producing something special, particularly up front.
 
"We know they are going to come at us with everything they've got ... it's got the makings of a really good game," he said.
With just two series of preliminary round premier division matches to be played East Coast (61pts) and Masterton Red Star (55pts) are guaranteed semi-final berths but the battle is on in earnest between Pioneer (47pts), Martinborough (44pts), Gladstone (43pts), Greytown (40pts) and Marist (40pts) for the other two spots.