“Winning our first game, and at home, is a must,” Otai said. “We have two tough games to follow (South Canterbury, away; Wanganui at home).
“It’s important we set the intensity and commitment from the first game and try to build from that.
“One of the things I want the players to do is not dwell on mistakes. Mistakes are part of the game. It’s what you do to fix it that matters. Identify what you did wrong and get on with the game.”
Hooker Tamanui Hill, in his third season with the Bay but first as Heartland squad skipper, said their focus was solely on the Bush game.
“There’ll be plenty of time to talk about the following games after that,” Hill said. “We’ve worked hard on defence over the past two weeks, especially during the camp last weekend and this week. It’ll be interesting to see how we get on.
“The front row have developed a good chemistry and having Micaiah (lock, Torrance-Reid) back with us is massive, and we’ve got good leaders in the pack and the backs. I know people go on about expansive play but we have to dominate up front.”
The Bay received a boost this week when openside flanker Callum McDonald came through a strenuous fitness test to be fit to make his Heartland debut.
Rotorua-born, Gold Coast-raised McDonald was recommended to OBM by former OBM player Stu Donnelly, now living in Australia.
Since arriving here late in the second round of the club competition, McDonald has impressed. He was a standout performer in the Bay’s Ranfurly Shield challenge against Taranaki.
McDonald, OBM lock Jacob Cook and YMP’s Fawn White inject young talent into the pack, while the likes of Waikohu No.8 Ken Houkamau provide the foundation of experience.
Both teams go into the game with three losses in their past three pre-season games, having conceded a swag of points — albeit against quality teams including Taranaki and Wanganui.
“We’ve made steady progress over the three games but we have lost our skipper, Cyrus Baker (Achilles injury), for the season,” said Harwood.
“James Goodger (lock) will take over as captain. He is not the biggest player in the squad but he’s got a huge ticker, and if he had not suffered some bad injuries in his career he would have had more representative games to his name.”
While Wairarapa Bush intend to adopt an all-local policy next season, Harwood has included three loan players tomorrow — loosehead prop Max Tufuga, first five-eighth Glen Walters and second five Michael Lealeva’a. Tufuga’s brother Kirk (No.8) is their player of origin.
“Nine of the starting 15 will be making their debuts at this level so it’s good to have some experienced guys in there.”
The game kicks off at 2.30pm and follows two JAB finals.
The under-11s final between Eastland Vets Ngatapa and Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates is at 11.15am.
It will be followed by the u13s final between Pirates and YMP at 12.30pm.
Jeremy David was a former High School Old Boys midfield back who played representative rugby for the Bay and the Bush. He died in an accident in Wellington in 1998 at just 20 years of age.
