Selectors resist changes

Hansells Wairarapa-Bush selectors Graham Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson have resisted any urge to make wholesale changes to their starting line-up for the Heartland championship rugby match against Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin on Saturday.
With Horowhenua-Kapiti in a state of disarray after losing all three of their pool A games to date Cheetham and Stevenson could have been tempted to give most of their reserve bench more game time on this occasion.
But mindful of the fact that maximum points will go a long way towards guaranteeing them a home game against pool B leaders North Otago in the Meads Cup playoffs a little further down the track they have sensibly gone with a no-risk policy.
The only two changes from the starting XV in the King Country clash last Saturday are in the forwards and in both instances it is a case of one Eketahuna clubmate being swapped for another.
Brendon Walker comes in at prop ahead of Shane Temana and Solly Alsop replaces Josh Mackey on the openside flank.
Walker might still have fitness issues but is probably the most powerful scrummager amongst the Wairarapa-Bush front rowers and with the scrum being a problem area over the past couple of games his elevation is not surprising.
More particularly so because Temana is battling a bruised knee as well.
Alsop's promotion comes after Wairarapa-Bush showed some deficiencies on defence around the fringes of the scrum against King Country.
The latter's No.8 Ronnie Patea made valuable ground virtually every time he chose to run with the ball but, happily for Wairarapa-Bush, his teammates tended to drop everything which came their way so the territory Patea gained was very seldom put to good use.
As arguably the quickest of the Wairarapa-Bush loosies, Alsop's speed off the mark should give Wairarapa-Bush a better chance of stopping the Patea's of the world at scrum time and should also improve their prospects of snaffling up the loose ball which emanates from broken play situations.
Having said that, it would be wrong to leave the impression that Mackey has disappointed in the Heartland games to date.
Openside flanker is something of a foreign role to him but no one could quibble at his high workrate, and the extra lineout option his height provides.
Ordinarily, that lineout option would almost be enough to make Mackey a first choice selection in any circumstances but the excellence of locks Dan Griffin and Tomasi Kedrabuka in that department means Wairarapa-Bush don't need to look further than them for quality possession in that crucial area of the game.
The retention of Steve Olds at No.8 for the Levin match might be questioned by some pundits, again not because Olds has been performing badly but because of the splendid form being shown by Marist's Joe Nuku for the Wairarapa-Bush B's.
Nuku is a very similar player to Olds in that his strength is taking the ball up in close-quarter situations and his combativeness on defence and he can take heart from Cheetham's comments that the form of the B team is being followed closely by the selectors.
A process aided by the fact that the two sides often train together
"We certainly don't have a closed door in that respect, we're very aware what the B players are doing and the more heat they put on the A guys the better for everyone.", he said.
Cheetham is unsure, however, what approach Horowhenua-Kapiti will take on Saturday from a tactical viewpoint.
Already consigned to the Lochore Cup section for the Heartland playoffs they would obviously like nothing better than to knock off the top pool A side as a means of getting a semblance of respectability about their season but how they look to achieve it is anybody's guess.
Cheetham can recall though from his own playing days that Horowhenua-Kapiti have a history of making life difficult for Wairarapa-Bush teams over a long period of time, and he says the message to his players will be to take absolutely nothing for granted on this occasion either.
"Complacency is the worst thing which could happen to us, fall into that trap and it could be a long trip home," he said.
The Wairarapa-Bush team for Saturday is: Simanu Simanu; Lema Lauvi, Heemi Tupaea, Tapanga Isaac, Lance Stevenson; John Dodd; Hamish McKenzie; Steve olds; Solly Alsop, Dan Griffin, Tomasi Kedrabuka, Mike Spence; Brendon Walker, Joe Harwood, Brett Rudman. Reserves: Zeb Aporo, Jon Guillard, Phil Aporo, Moses Gutuvakaca, Shane Temana, Jarod Bambry, Josh Mackey.