The only way is to go all the way

Wairarapa-Bush can go all the way in the inaugural Heartland rugby championship.
That's the word from skipper Joe Harwood, who says his players have only one thing in mind, and that is having the Meads Cup reside in Masterton over the summer months.
Harwood's comments may seem surprising in that they come on the back of Wairarapa-Bush losing the last of their top six playoff games to Wanganui 28-23 in Wanganui on Saturday.
But while he admits to be disappointed at the defeat, Wairarapa-Bush's first in eight Heartland matches, Harwood believes his side could take enough positives from the game to believe they are capable of turning the tables should they meet again.
Which will happen if both Wanganui and Wairarapa-Bush win their home semi-finals this coming weekend, Wanganui against Mid-Canterbury and Wairarapa-Bush against North Otago.
Harwood said Wairarapa-Bush were not only competitive in the Wanganui match on Saturday but they had created enough scoring opportunities to actually win the game.
"We just didn't finish off as well as we could have, we weren't quite as composed as we needed to be," he said.
Harwood said the biggest frustration for Wairarapa-Bush came in the closing stanzas when they camped on the Wanganui line in search of the converted try which would have given them the win
"Our ball retention let us down then, a couple of times we turned over possession when a try was certainly on," he said.
Harwood was "pretty happy" with the way the Wairarapa-Bush forwards performed in Saturday's game but he admitted to them becoming a "bit sloppy" in their work in the second half.
"We can do better in the set pieces for sure, the scrum and lineout play wasn't as efficient as it could be," he said.
"It's nothing to worry about though, just lapses in concentration and communication as much as anything else."
Harwood said the loss of in-form flanker Sylvanus Iro with a back injury had hurt Wairarapa-Bush because of the havoc he was creating on attack and defence, and they were also affected by the shoulder injury suffered by fellow loosie Sam Henderson in the same incident, Henderson stayed on but, not surprisingly, he was not quite the same force as previously.
"Our loosies have been a real strength of ours all season so it was a blow to us for sure," Harwood said.
Perhaps the most worrying feature of Wairarapa-Bush's effort in Wanganui though with an eye to their semi-final with North Otago was the tentativeness of their defence, especially in the backs where a number of first tackles were missed.
Harwood agrees that a North Otago side which places huge emphasis on attack would relish any such deficiencies but again he is confident that come next Saturday the remedies will have been found.
"You play teams like North Otago and you know how important a tight defence is??.we will be ready for anything they can throw at us in that regard," Harwood said.
"We have to get in their faces and cut down their time and space, the less room we give them the better."
Harwood says the onus will also be on the Wairarapa-Bush forwards to out-muscle a North Otago pack which is mobile but which is not the most physical of packs in the tighter aspects of the forward game.
"The best way to stop their backs from cutting loose is to deprive them of ball and that's the job of our forwards," he said.
"Dominating up front has to be the plan".At the same time though Harwood has considerable respect for North Otago, respect coming out of a pool match which saw Wairarapa-Bush win by a solitary point after North Otago had "bombed" a number of prime scoring chances.
"They are definitely the sort of side which could tear you apart if you are not on your game, they just keep coming at you," he said.
But while he sees this weekend's clash as being another "massive battle" he believes the determination within the Wairarapa-Bush camp to win their next two games, and therefore the Meads Cup, will produce a positive result.
"There isn't a player in the squad who doesn't believe we can do it??the whole focus is on going all the way," he said.