Stars sure to give it their best shot

Motivation won't be a problem for Masterton Red Star in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division inter-club rugby match with East Coast at Memorial Park, Masterton tomorrow.
The match will be a highlight of celebrations marking the amalgamation of the two clubs a decade ago.
That in itself was an historic occasion as it saw the joining of two of the oldest clubs in the Wairarapa-Bush region, Masterton having operated for 130 years and Red Star for 120 years.
Both had proud histories on the playing field as well, having won premiership titles numerous times between them.
And they had been the breeding ground for many players going on to attain national honours, players like All Blacks Brian Lochore, Brent Anderson and Lawrence Hullena, Junior All Blacks Brent Elder, Ian Turley and Bill Rowlands, Maori All Blacks Bill Rowlands again and Germaine Anaha, New Zealand Colts David Rutene and Phil Rutene and New Zealand under-17 rep Gary Rutene.
Success has come too since the amalgamation in 1996. They won the senior A championship that year and again in 2000 and have won three senior B titles in that period as well.
Members of that 1996 side will in fact gather again at the Colombo Road grounds on Sunday and will strut their stuff in a match expected to begin around Noon.
The celebrations will, however, kick off tonight with a "mix and mingle" at the club rooms in Herbert Street.
Tomorrow will see both the premier division and president grade sides involved in matches at Memorial Park with the after-match functions being held at the Wairarapa-Bush headquarters.
Then later tomorrow a dinner will be held at the Herbert Street club rooms at which the guest speaker will be ex-NZRFU CEO David Rutherford supported by former international referee and now Masterton Mayor, Bob Francis, and WBRFU president Farry McLeod.
Unfortunately Brian Lochore won't be in attendance as he has prior commitments with the All Blacks squads named earlier in the week.
Time will no doubt be taken at the dinner too to reflect on the club's future which looks bright judging by the 150 youngsters who are part of 12 JAB sides and by plans to field a colts side in competition play in 2007.
CLUB GAMES
Whether Masterton Red Star can add spice to their celebrations by beating East Coast in their premier division club match at Memorial Park tomorrow is the $64,000 question.
The Coasters certainly have the better record of the two teams thus far this season and will start as favourites in a game at which the Stevenson Cup will also be at stake.
For Masterton Red Star to be a winning chance they will need to dominate the forward exchanges and play a structured style of rugby as East Coast are a mobile lot who thrive on broken play situations
Perhaps the most interesting of all the premier division games from a strictly competition perspective will be that between Eketahuna and Marist at Eketahuna. Both sides are serious contenders for overall honours in 2007 and both are coming off the back of important wins, Eketahuna over Carterton and Marist over Greytown-Tuhirangi.
The most impressive feature of Eketahuna's victory on that occasion was the sting in their forward effort Up against a Carterton pack boasting a number of rep players they gave every bit as good as they received with unheralded players like Peter Bond, Lance Duffy, Josh Mackley and Solly Alsop taking the limelight.
They provided enough quality ball for halfback Hamish McKenzie to run the show and his tactical nous was vital in the final analysis.
No doubt Marist will be looking to nullify McKenzie's influence tomorrow while giving their own proven playmaker, first-five Paddy Rimene, enough ball to steer his side to success in a game in which the Rowden-Hargreaves Cup will be up for grabs.
Carterton will be the popular pick to beat Martinborough in their Quinn Cup match at Martinborough, but anybody who thinks the latter will be easy-beats could be in for a shock. They will be keen to take Carterton on in the backs and given that chance there might be very few points in it at the end.
Gladstone and Puketoi will meet at Gladstone and with Gladstone one of the leading hopes for a finals berth and Puketoi at the very bottom of the points table anything other than a big Gladstone win would be a surprise.
REP GAME
The opportunity to cement places in the NPC first division squad later in the season will be the prime incentive for Wairarapa-Bush squad members when they play Hawke's Bay in the annual non-championship match at Memorial Park on Monday, kickoff being at the earlier time of 2pm.
Coach Peter Russell won't confirm his starting XV until after club games tomorrow, because if past history counts for anything at least a couple of likely participants will probably fall foul of injury
It is the back selection which will create the most interest. No doubt Hamish McKenzie will be at halfback and Paddy Rimene at first-five but there are several options to consider for the positions outside them.
A fit Simanu Simanu, who is struggling with a knee injury, will very probably be at centre although he is such a key player for Wairarapa-Bush that the temptation could be to rest him for the more important assignments to come.
When it comes to second-five, wing and fullback it's very much a matter of wait and see, but there are almost certain to be some changes there from the starting line-up used for the Wellington XV match last week. The imminent return of Nathan Couch from the United States will solve the second-five problem but Russell certainly has some head scratching to do over the wing and fullback, positions where depth is not exactly a strength these days.
One suspects too there will be some changes in the make-up of the Wairarapa-Bush pack, which certainly lifted their effort in the second half of the Wellington game when a number of the bench players were introduced to the action.