'Young guns' called to action

Two of the "young guns" have been brought into the Wairarapa-Bush rugby side for their Heartland championship match with South Canterbury at Timaru tomorrow.
Gladstone prop Kurt Simmonds and Greytown halfback Mike Hollis both made a favourable impression off the reserves bench when Wairarapa-Bush were upset 37-31 by West Coast at home last weekend and this will be the first time they have started for their province at Heartland level.
Simmonds replaces Brett Rudman in the front row and will have plenty of experience in the form of skipper Joe Harwood and Dylan Higgison alongside him there.
As the new boy on the block he can expect to be put to the test by South Canterbury at scrum time and whether he earns himself a permanent starting spot in the side will depend to a large extent on how he copes in that department.
Wairarapa-Bush will also be looking to Simmonds to add "grunt" to their efforts in the rolling mauls and broken play as he is a rugged customer built close enough to the ground to be hard to stop when on the charge with ball in hand.
Hollis had originally decided to make himself unavailable for representative play this season because of other commitments but when injuries decimated the halfback stocks he had a change of heart.
His replacing of Callum Buchanan behind the scrum for tomorrow's match is no reflection on Buchanan's debut effort against West Coast, which was as good as could be expected in the circumstances, but more an indication that Wairarapa-Bush are looking for more variety from their inside backs, and hopefully Hollis can help in that respect.
Moving the ball quickly and decisively from the many short arm penalties that have come with the introduction of the ELVs (experimental law variations) is a significant attacking ploy these days and Wairarapa-Bush were too often slow on the uptake against West Coast. If Hollis manages to boost their performance in that area alone he will doing them a big favour.
Speaking of the ELVs they should, in fact, favour a team like Wairarapa-Bush as in Jordan Watene, Charlie Walker-Blair and Junior Togia they have a three-quarter line with the speed and flair to make full use of any space which slick passing provides. Put them on the outside of the opposition defences and they are going to take some stopping, aren't they? aving said that it is important that Wairarapa-Bush don't fall onto the same trap as they did against West Coast when they looked to launch many of their attacks from well inside their own half. Mistakes were made and West Coast capitalised, South Canterbury will very probably do the same if the opportunity exists. It will be important too for Wairarapa-Bush that they up the ante on defence. Last Saturday too many first up tackles were missed, especially in close quarter second and third phase situations, and a couple of tries were practically gifted West Coast as a result.
South Canterbury are known to have at least a couple of big Pacific Islanders in their pack who like nothing better to get the ball in hand and run kamikaze-style at the opposition defences and they will cause havoc if they are allowed to work up a full head of steam.
The other area in which Wairarapa-Bush will be looking for improvement is the lineouts where Tomasi Kedrabuka was something of a lone ranger last weekend. The lanky Fijian can always be relied on to give as good as he gets no matter how much pressure he is under but he needs help to be totally effective and that's where locking partner James Measor and blindside flanker Joe Feast come in. Their lineout skills would have been a prime reason for their selection in the first place and a bigger impact will be wanted from them here. Victory for both Wairarapa-Bush and South Canterbury tomorrow is, of course, crucial to their prospects of qualifying for the Meads Cup playoffs of the Heartland champion as whoever loses will be at, or near, the bottom of the heaps in their pool, and in a position from which recovery will be an extremely difficult proposition.
The Wairarapa-Bush team for tomorrow is:
Peato Lafaele; Junior Togia, Jordan Watene, Nathan Couch, Charlie Walker-Blair; Patrick Rimene; Mike Hollis; Mike Spence; Jared Hawkins, Tomasi Kedrabuka, James Measor, Joe Feast; Dylan Higgison, Joe Harwood, Kurt Simmonds. Reserves: Callum Buchanan, Mike Shaw, Dean Grant, Richard Puddy, Mike Wilson, Jared Bambry, Brett Rudman.
On the local front two Wairarapa-Bush age group sides will be in action at Memorial Park tomorrow. The under-20s will play their Manawatu counterparts in a match kicking off at 2.30pm and the under-16s will play Hawke's Bay , starting at 1pm.
Also tomorrow the Kuranui College first XV will be travelling over the hill to take on Rongotai College in the final of the Wellington secondary schoolboys premier four competition. Kuranui will be in a confident frame of mind after their 52-10 thumping of Heretaunga last weekend.