Russell wants NPC team to emulate Canterbury

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell wants his team to "do a Canterbury" in the inaugural NPC first division competition.
It's not that Russell expects his players to match the skills of a Canterbury side which hammered Wairarapa-Bush 96-10 in their Ranfurly Shield game at Jade Stadium, Christchurch on Tuesday. That would be mission impossible.
But he is hopeful of them copying Canterbury's disciplined approach and positive attitude.
"They (Canterbury) are not only intent on winning, they want to win well," he said.
"And even when they have teams on the ropes they don't take the foot off the pedal, they're constantly looking to lift their game."
Russell described the feeling in the Wairarapa-Bush dressing room after their Shield challenge as "pretty despondent " with the players believing they had let themselves down.
"We all knew the sort of opposition we were up against but 96 points???no, we didn't imagine we'd concede anything like that," he said.
Russell said it was a case of Canterbury dominating possession, and having the speed and skill to make the most of it.
"They had us going backwards at a rate of knots all game and the pressure got the better of us," he said.
"When you don't have the ball and the other side keep coming at you something has to give, doesn't it?"
Russell was, however, pleased with the commitment shown by his side even as the score mounted against them.
"Honestly, I think we can say that everyone was out there doing their best so we can't be too tough on them," he said. "The days when teams can train just a couple of times a week and expect to compete with sides like Canterbury who can train three times a day if they like are gone???they have too many resources to make that possible."
Russell is still confident though that Wairarapa-Bush will prove very competitive at NPC first division level in 2006.
There they will be up against teams very much like themselves in terms of preparation and skill levels..
"Making it through to the first division playoffs is still very much the aim and there's no reason why we shouldn't do that," he said.
Meanwhile, the last round of matches in the Wairarapa-Bush premier division club competition will be played on Saturday with three of the four semi-final spots still up for grabs.
Gladstone, who top the points table with 47, are already guaranteed but contesting for the other three are Pioneer (42), Carterton (42), Eketahuna (41) and Marist (38). Only side out of the reckoning is Greytown-Tuhirangi, who have 31pts.
It is Marist who are in the hottest of all seats on Saturday.They have to front up to Gladstone at Gladstone knowing they will probably need the maximum five points-four for a win and a bonus point for scoring four or more tries- to have any chance of making the semis. That is a tall order by any standards.
Eketahuna will host Pioneer at Eketahuna and will be hoping the home ground advantage will be enough to keep them in contention for a fourth successive premier division title while Carterton won't be taking anything for granted against Greytown-Tuhirangi, who are quite capable of causing an upset.