Upset could be on the cards

Gladstone's unbeaten record in the Wairarapa-Bush senior first division competition could come under threat when they meet Greytown-Tuhirangi at Gladstone tomorrow.
Having not yet tasted defeat in six matches Gladstone will deservedly start favourites but the combined team have dropped just the one game (to Eketahuna) and are capable of an upset.
Their 53-0 victory over East Coast last weekend would have been a confidence booster for Greytown-Tuhirangi as it included no fewer than nine tries and it will be interesting to see what tactics they adopt against a Gladstone side which have proved a solid combination at both back and forward.
With the experience of Brett Rudman and Norm Henriksen to call on Greytown-Tuhirangi just might fancy their chances of gaining at least a semblance of control in the tighter aspects of the forward game.
They will be looking to put the heat on Gladstone at scrum time and in the lineouts in the knowledge that any dominance of possession there will help ease the dangers posed by Gladstone's main attacking weapons, loose forward Mike Spence and backs Mike Shaw, Andrew Patrick, George Williams and Matt Easton.
Marist have moved to second place on the points table, four points adrift of Gladstone and two ahead of Greytown-Tuhirangi, and while they won't get everything their own way when they take on Martinborough at Memorial Park a comfortable win still seems in the offing.
Having said that though Martinborough are a side who will hustle and bustle for the full 80 minutes and Marist will need to guard against complacency or suffer the consequences.
One of the more interesting individual duels here will come at halfback with Wairarapa-Bush aspirants Daryl Pollock (Marist) and Zeb Aporo (Martinborough) squaring off against each other.
They both had sound if unspectacular games against the Wellington XV on Tuesday and tomorrow gives them the chance to further push their claims in that respect.
After a slow start to the season defending first division champions Carterton have rocketed back into calculations for the 2007 title with successive wins over Pioneer and Eketahuna.
The confidence gained from those successes should see them rack up the points against Puketoi at Carterton tomorrow even though star forward Tomasi Kedarabuka might be rested to give his gashed leg further time to heal.
The last couple of weekends have been extra tough going for Masterton Red Star who followed a default loss against Gladstone with an 80-0 thumping at the hands of Marist.
Things should get a little easier for them when they play Pioneer at the Jeans street grounds tomorrow as Pioneer had only two points to spare from Puketoi last weekend and are obviously missing the tactical guidance of the injured Richard Carroll.
A Pioneer win is still very much on the cards but not by a huge margin.
Eketahuna have been beset by injury hassles with old hands Simanu Simanu and Steve Olds both likely to be missing for the match against East Coast at Eketahuna.
That is a big blow as they are invariably at the head of their team's attacking forays but they should still get by an East Coast side still looking for their first win of the season.
The senior first division points table is: Gladstone 28, Marist 24, Greytown-Tuhirangi 22, Eketahuna 20, Pioneer 14, Martinborough 12, Carterton 10, Masterton Red Star 5, Puketoi 5 and East Coast 3,
Masterton Red Star might be finding the going tough at first division level but their senior thirds side have won five from five and have established a six point lead in that competition. The table there is: Masterton Red Star 23 (five games), East Coast 17 (5), Pioneer 16 (6), Greytown-Tuhirangi 15 (5), Marist 14 (6), Gladstone 11 (5), Carterton 9 (5), Featherston 7 (6) and Eketahuna 6 (5).