Smart money on East Coast

Semifinal spots will be up for grabs when the Wairarapa-Bush Tui Cup premier division rugby competition enters the penultimate stage of pool play tomorrow.
None of the 10 teams are yet assured of reaching at least that far, although a betting man would be prepared to place big money on the Mark Donaldson-coached East Coast being among the top four.
East Coast lead pool A on 13 points, with Greytown 11, Pioneer 10, Martinborough 6 and Marist 1.
In pool B it is Carterton making the pace with 13pts with Gladstone on 7, Eketahuna 6, Featherston 5 and Masterton Red Star 1.
The leading two teams in each pool after next Saturday's matches will go through to the semis. With East Coast up against Marist at Memorial Park tomorrow, you would have to think they will pick up the 4pts points for the win necessary to make them safe.
Whereas East Coast have yet to taste defeat in 2011 Marist have been a mixed bag. They started well enough but with a couple of key players (Corey Reid and Joe Nuku) leaving to join Gladstone and a spate of injury hassles they are now clearly part of the also-rans. A Marist squad at full strength would be good enough to at least give East Coast a run for their money but it's hard to imagine the latter tripping up here.
Two other sides who will strongly fancied to win tomorrow are Eketahuna and Martinborough.
Eketahuna come up against Featherston at Eketahuna and while Featherston deserve plaudits for chalking up their first win of the season last weekend. They will surely struggle to stay in touch with an Eketahuna side who should have the dominance up front to play the territory game which bests suits their talents.
Martinborough will take on Masterton Red Star at Colombo Rd headquarters and with Masterton Red Star hosting the first after-match function to be held at the renovated clubrooms there since 1995 and they will lack nothing on the score of sideline support. Whether that will be enough, however, to get them the win is doubtful as Martinborough have more firepower at both back and forward. They will also have the incentive of knowing that anything less than the maximum five points and their semifinal aspirations could be up in smoke.
The Greytown v Pioneer encounter at Jean St should be a cracker, as should the Gladstone v Carterton fixture at Gladstone.
Taking form over the whole season you would rank Pioneer as almost a home run against Greytown but the latter have, in horse racing parlance, grown another leg since the Tui Cup pool play commenced and with three wins from as many games are right in the hunt for semi-final contention.
They will find a Pioneer side which has shown time and again in 2011 the ability to rise to the occasion a difficult proposition, especially up front, and will start the underdogs but anything could happen here.
Carterton too have come right at the right time and the defending champions are already all but through to the semis while Gladstone are much more perilously placed in that regard.
Everything about this fixture suggests a battle royal with little between the two sides all over the paddock.
Tactically, though, it seems likely that Carterton will place the emphasis on gaining the ascendancy up front while Gladstone will probably regard the attacking skills of their backs as being their main weapon. It's not hard to see a goal kick or two deciding this one.
It will be the second successive weekend off for the Eketahuna women who are clear leaders in their Wellington premier division competition.They have the bye after winning by default last Saturday.