Tight tussle expected

Wairarapa-Bush head coach Mark Rutene is expecting a "real arm wrestle" when his team takes on unbeaten Buller in the Heartland Championship at Memorial Park, Masterton, tomorrow.

Rutene sees the likelihood of wintry conditions providing both teams with few options other than to keep the ball close to the forwards and focus on playing the game deep in opposition territory.

"I think the forwards are in for a hard slog, a lot of the play is probably going to be revolved around them," Rutene said. "I'm picking it will be a real arm wrestle up front."

That being the case the Wairarapa-Bush pack need to repeat the fire they showed in their pre-championship match against Poverty Bay and also against Mid-Canterbury last weekend.

In both those games they competed strongly - and with a good measure of success - in the crucial ball-winning areas of scrum, lineout and maul, and they will want to show similar intensity against a Buller eight sure to lack nothing on the score of competitiveness either.

Good news for Wairarapa-Bush is that rookie flanker James Goodger looks set to take the field after an injury scare in the Mid-Canterbury match and the more he and fellow loose forwards Joss Tua Davidson and Johan Van Vliet can get their hands on the ball the better for the home team.

All three are powerful runners with an aggressive mindset and will be well suited if, as expected, Wairarapa-Bush use the short passing rush as their main form of attack.

The loss of Dan Griffin with injury does weaken the Wairarapa-Bush lineout to a degree and Rutene still had to decide yesterday who would be brought in as cover for the only two specialist locks left in the squad, Andrew McLean and Brandan Young. Making that decision even more pressing is the fact Young will miss a couple of games while the World Cup is in progress.

The move to start with Brendon Walker and Kurt Simmonds at prop with Campbell Lawrence at hooker suggests Wairarapa-Bush are looking for greater stability in the scrums, an area in which the bulky Walker tends to shine.

Barring any injury niggles the Wairarapa-Bush backline will be exactly as it was against Mid-Canterbury with Matt O'Connor at halfback, Trent Vatselias at first-five, Tommy Harmon and Heemi Tupaea in midfield, Jesse McGilvary and Michael Vuicikau on the wings and Nick Olson at fullback.

O'Connor and Vatselias will have the job of keeping their forwards on the front foot and how they manage that seems sure to be a huge factor in the end result. Both players are adept at the running game but it will be their tactical kicking skills which will probably be most under the microscope tomorrow.

Buller, for their part, will come to Masterton in a confident frame of mind after winning their two opening Heartland games, and their loss to Wairarapa-Bush in the Lochore Cup final in 2010 will provide them with extra incentive to produce a top notch performance.

The main curtain-raiser will see Wairarapa-Bush B play a team selected from the best players in this season's senior reserves competition. On paper it should be a cake-walk for the Bs but they can expect some big hits from a senior reserves side determined to make their presence felt.