HSOB play winless Pirates-GMC at the Oval tomorrow and Ngatapa, who are out of the running, should still provide a stiff challenge for second-placed YMP at Patutahi.
Enterprise Cars OBM coach Trevor Crosby said resting players was not on his agenda and GT Shearing Waikohu deserved respect.
“We’ll put our best foot forward,” he said.
Centre Alin Zaharia is out with a leg fracture, some players have niggles and Crosby has to manage player workloads, but he is wary of losing focus.
OBM will play YMP in the first week of the playoffs and the winners will advance to the final.
“Of course, we’re thinking of the semis,” Crosby said.
“We had a four-to-five-week plan of getting to that stage.
“But we’re looking forward to this game and this challenge and focusing on Waikohu this week.”
Waikohu coach Jason Tuapawa said it was important to “keep some sort of momentum” for next week’s assignment, and putting up a strong performance against OBM tomorrow was part of that.
“We’re expecting a battle and we want to win,” he said.
OBM had been the best team this year and Waikohu could test themselves “against the best” tomorrow.
Midfield back Jesse Fleming, who injured his knee in the first round, is expected to return next week.
YMP coach Steve Smith said Larsawn Ngatapa would push to finish their season strongly.
“That’s what we’re expecting. That’s what we’ll be ready for.”
YMP have had problems on and off the field in the past month and Smith said the club “hit a bit of a low”.
After a good win against Waikohu last week, YMP needed to keep their standards high in tomorrow’s match.
“It has potential for players to put their hands up, leading into the next game,” Smith said.
“We won’t be relaxing.
“We have potentially three games left.
“All want to be there at the last dance — these games are going to matter.”
Smith suggested tomorrow could be a chance to try some things they might implement in a semifinal.
“We need to know beforehand what’s going to work.”
Ngatapa coach Steve Hickey said that, after a win against HSOB last week, his side would “keep rolling on”.
They have been a bit unlucky with results and injuries this year but Hickey said they were still having fun.
“We’ve been playing some good rugby all season.”
Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates-GMC player-coach Willie Waitoa said Earthwork Solutions HSOB were tough when the two teams met last time.
HSOB won that match 76-12, with fullback Andrew Tauatevalu scoring six tries.
Waitoa said his team had played well in patches in the past two weeks and needed to be at that level for their final game of the season.
HSOB coach Scott Leighton said the team were focusing on tomorrow’s match and had to have their heads right for that.
He said Pirates-GMC had been improving and had given some sides a hurry-up in the past few weeks.
“They’ll obviously want to finish their season on a high.”
