Bush 'hard yards' demanded

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Mark Rutene is urging players who want to be part of this season's Heartland championship campaign to do the hard yards necessary to enhance their fitness levels.
Rutene has been impressed with the enthusiasm shown by those included in a pre-season training squad but says the results from a couple of fitness tests have indicated there is huge room for improvement in that regard, an impression also left by the first four series of inter-club games.
"I think it's fair to say the overall fitness levels are below par and it makes you wonder just how much work the players are doing away from their club trainings," Rutene said. "From what we are seeing not too many are doing their own individual training as well and that has to be a worry. Hopefully the message to do more will get through."
Skills-wise Rutene has been "pretty pleased" with what club games have thrown up and while he is keeping an open mind as to whether players from outside the local region will be brought in for the Heartland championship he is optimistic they will be few in number.
There is one area, though, which must be causing early headaches for Rutene and assistant coach Steve Thompson and that is the front row.
Three of the rep hookers from last season in Joe Harwood, Richard Puddy and Jake Tipene are no longer available and just who will fill that role is very much up in the air. One of the leading candidates now would have to be Eketahuna's Campbell Lawrence, while Adam Marshall (Martinborough) and Leuma Wilson (Marist) are definite prospects as well.
There could be a couple of big gaps to fill at prop, too, with Jared Brock having moved out of the region and Dylan Higgison's availability in doubt. Kurt Simmonds (Greytown) will obviously be in the reckoning again while the likes of Wilbur Davies (Martinborough) and Tereina Rimene (East Coast) have been making a good impression on the club scene.
At lock the news that Tomasi Kedrabuka is confining himself to club rugby is a blow as the lanky Fijian has been a wonderful servant for Wairarapa-Bush in recent seasons, for his lineout jumping and his mobility about the paddock. Andrew McLean (Gladstone), Corey Reid (Marist) and the Eketahuna duo Daniel Griffin and Brandan Young have all performed well at rep level before and will be front-runners for the locking berths, along with a promising youngster in Wiremu Grace, also from Eketahuna.
The loose forward stocks are impressive with the candidates there including several who have worn the Wairarapa-Bush jersey with credit in past years including Joss Tua-Davidson, Duncan Law, Chris Senior, Jared Hawkins, John McFadzean and Tommy Sargent. Throw in the rangy Marist utility forward James Goodger, who can also play at lock and is a competent goal kicker, and Pioneer's in-form Mike Harmon, and it's clearly more a matter of who to leave out than who to select.
In the backs you can safely wager that Englishman Dan Porter, who has joined up with East Coast, will be involved in the Heartland campaign, whether it be at fullback or on the wing. He has shown himself to be a bold runner on attack and, arguably, the best goal kicker on the club scene.
A couple of lively Pioneer wingers in Charlie Brown and Joe Dahlberg-Paku must be challenging hard for those berths and two other backs from that same club, midfielder Hoani Peacock and first-five Tipi Haira, must be on the radar, too. They were impressive in Pioneer's big win over defending champions Carterton last weekend.
In Fijian Michael Vuicikau Gladstone have a newcomer who looks definite representative material, probably at first-five or fullback, and there has been a lot to like about the progress made by a talented youngster capable of playing just about anywhere in the backline, Marist's Daniel Blong.
Rutene and Thompson are expected to name their training squad after the match between Bush and Wairarapa sub-unions on Queen's Birthday weekend.