Wairarapa Bush season on line

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Mark Rutene makes no bones about the importance of his team's Heartland championship rugby match with Buller at Masterton's Memorial Park on Saturday.

"We have to win, no ifs or buts," Rutene said yesterday. "Any other result won't be good enough."

Rutene's sentiments are understandable, with Wairarapa-Bush having picked up just two bonus points from their first two matches against Thames Valley and Mid-Canterbury.

That has them sitting eighth of the 12 teams on the points table and in a position where another loss this weekend would probably end any chance of making it to the Meads Cup playoffs.

This judgment is based on the fact their next five preliminary-round games are against teams ahead of them on the competition ladder - as indeed are Buller - and include hotshots Wanganui and North Otago.

Rutene was encouraged enough by the improvement shown against Mid-Canterbury to believe victory against Buller, who have got off to a flying start with two wins, is an achievable objective.

"The intensity and commitment was a whole lot better and we need to build further on that," he said. "Obviously it's going to be a tough ask but I think we're ready for it."

Rutene and assistant coach Steve Thompson won't finalise their starting XV until after training tonight but one player who won't be there is lock Dan Griffin, who dislocated an elbow early in the Mid-Canterbury match and will probably be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Griffin's absence almost certainly guarantees Andrew McLean and Brandan Young will start in the middle row but whether a third specialist lock will be brought in as cover remains to be seen.

Two other players who initially took the field against Mid-Canterbury, flanker James Goodger and wing Michael Vuicikau, are battling injury niggles. Goodger has a sore Achilles and Vuicikau a hamstring strain. They are in the doubtful starter category but the likelihood is they will play.

Providing Vuicikau is on deck, the backline probably will be unchanged from the weekend, with Trent Vatselias staying at first five and Tommy Harmon and Heemi Tupaea in midfield. Vatselias' skills make him more suited to the running game but the wet spell could mean his tactical kicking comes under the microscope this time. How he fares in that respect, as well as in goal-kicking, may have a big say in the result.

Meanwhile, one of the young guns in the Wairarapa-Bush refereeing ranks, Alistair Payne, will travel to Napier on Saturday to control the national NPC women's fixture between Wellington and Hawke's Bay.

Up to seven Eketahuna players could be in the Wellington starting line-up and they will be expected to build on their big win over Manawatu last weekend.

Two finals in the Wairarapa-Bush secondary schoolboys competition will be played on Saturday, and Makoura College and Wairarapa College have teams in both.

The Wairarapa College seconds will face Makoura in the open grade and Wairarapa College Gold will play Makoura in the juniors. Makoura qualified top in both grades, to grab home advantage.

The full draw for Saturday is:

Heartland championship:

Wairarapa-Bush v Buller, Memorial Park at 2.30pm (S Elliott; C Jefferies and D Goodin; S Andrew and P Weeks).

Representative matches:

Wairarapa-Bush B v Wairarapa-Bush senior reserves, Memorial Park No1 at 1pm (A Stringer; S Andrew and P Weeks).

Wairarapa-Bush under-20s v HOBM Academy, Memorial Park No2 at 1pm (S O'Gorman; G Hall and V Peterson).

Secondary schools:

Open grade: Makoura first XV v Wairarapa College second XV, Makoura at 11.15am (E Wallace; V Peterson and P Thompson).

Junior: Makoura College v Wairarapa College Gold, Makoura at 10am (P Thompson; A Mortenson and D Whitcombe).