HSOB manager Jonathan Poole said little separated the teams in the competition, so they had to be switched on for every match.
“It certainly has been an interesting start to the season but what it has shown is that you have to be on top of your game every week, as anyone can beat anyone on their day,” he said.
Poole said OBM had got the better of HSOB in previous encounters.
“We believe that we have addressed the areas that let us down against YMP and are looking forward to the challenge that OBM presents.
“This will be a physical affair and the team that can get on top early will go a long way to winning this one.”
Poole said HSOB would welcome back Baxter Mackay at first five-eighth and Tani Misikoli at lock for his first start of the year.
Willie Haenga is set to start at halfback, with George Halley moving to the wing. James Warren shifts to the bench, along with Scott Tallott.
OBM defeated Ngatapa last week but centre Adam Zaharia, hooker Rikki Terekia and lock Jacob Cook all left the field with injuries.
OBM head coach Trevor Crosby wasn’t sure on Wednesday how many players would be fit to play this weekend.
“We’re running a bit thin,” he said.
Crosby said he had a good young team who were willing to learn, and they faced a significant test tomorrow.
“YMP did us no favours. HSOB are going to come out firing.”
Ngatapa coach Steve Hickey expected Waikohu to be on song in front of their home crowd.
The clash between two country clubs would be enjoyable to be part of — “you just go hammer and tongs”.
“Both teams try to play a good brand of rugby. It could well be a great, running spectacle.”
Henry Seymour was out with a sternum injury, so they would need to tweak the backline.
Hickey said a few “honest truths” were spoken at training on Tuesday.
“I’d like to think we’ll bounce back.
“We’ve got to respond after what happened last week.”
Ngatapa had a win against Pirates-GMC in Round 1 but are on zero competition points after fielding an unregistered player in that fixture.
YMP manager Vaughan White said Pirates-GMC were not to be taken lightly.
“They’ll get their combinations going soon.”
His team had a big forward pack and nippy backline, with speed out wide, he said.
“We need to keep the momentum going,” White said.
Despite two teams bringing up 50 points against his side in the first two rounds, Pirates-GMC player-coach Willie Waitoa said he liked “aspects of what we’re doing”.
“I’m not put off by any of our results yet. We’ll get there.”
Pirates-GMC had leaked points but they had also scored seven tries across their first two games.
GMC had not fielded a team for several seasons and Pirates took a break last year, but they combined this year to get a side on the park.
Waitoa, who played 80 minutes himself last week, said he had a solid core group of players and they were pushing to become more competitive.
He said YMP had strong ball runners and attacking threats across the whole squad.
