Bush team’s final vow: We’ll be tough at home

Wairarapa-Bush are intent on making a positive statement in what will be their last home game of their 2009 Heartland championship rugby campaign at Memorial Park, Masterton tomorrow.
Victory over Mid-Canterbury would very probably not be enough to earn them a Meads Cup semi-final spot but it would be a significant way to end a season which has seen them make steady if not spectacular progress.
Something evidenced by the fact they will improve their Heartland seeding by at least three places no matter what the result of tomorrow's fixture.
Mid-Canterbury will, however, pose a formidable challenge. The southerners were the beaten finalists in the Meads Cup last year and have been making just about every post a winner this season as well.
Last weekend they upset defending champions Wanganui to give themselves a royal chance of a home semi, which is very likely to happen should they beat Wairarapa-Bush.
That alone will guarantee Mid-Canterbury come to Masterton with no other thought on their minds but to continue on their winning way, and most pundits are expecting them to do so.
At the same time though there is good reason to anticipate Wairarapa-Bush making a close game of it, and perhaps even better than that.
In none of their Heartland losses, both in pool play and Meads Cup matches, have they been beaten by more than six points and, like Mid-Canterbury, their victims include Wanganui.
The 34-28 defeat at the hands of South Canterbury last weekend, a loss which severely dented their semi-final aspirations, has done nothing but harden the resolve in the Wairarapa-Bush camp to finish on a high note.
Up by 11 points at halftime that was a match they should have won and there was general consensus they only had themselves to blame for allowing South Canterbury to come back from the dead..
Coach Kelvin Tantrum said the mood at this week's training was all about redemption and beating a team of Mid-Canterbury's calibre would at least provide a fair measure of that.
"You can't fault the attitude of the players, they know they had a poor last 40 minutes last weekend and they are absolutely determined not to let that happen again," he said.
"There's a lot of pride at stake, we want to give our supporters something positive to remember."
 
 
 
 
 
 

Three changes have been made to the Wairarapa-Bush pack from the eight which initially took the field against South Canterbury.
The loss through injury of No.8 Duncan Law means Nathan Rolls will return to the back row and with Tomasi Kedrabuka recovering well from a bad case of 'flu which stopped him from travelling south last weekend he will take Corey Reid's place at lock. At hooker "origin player" Ben Pereira will come in for Richard Puddy.
For Reid and Puddy their relegation to the reserves bench in no way reflects their form in Timaru. Indeed from all accounts they were two of their team's better performers, Puddy impressing with the accuracy of his lineout throwing and his mobility about the paddock and Reid taking down some useful lineout ball and being typically assertive in all other phases of the forward game.
The make-up of the Wairarapa-Bush backline will be the same as that for last weekend but they will be looking for a much improved 80 minutes here. Running in four tries in the first half against South Canterbury illustrated their attacking potential but they undone a lot of the good work by kicking and tackling poorly in the second spell.
Deficiencies of that type are likely to cost them heavily again tomorrow as Mid-Canterbury are reputedly a side quick to take advantage of any counter attacking opportunity.Giving them time and space to build up momentum will very probably represent trouble with a capital T.
Good news for Wairarapa-Bush is that fullback Nick Olson will be on deck after being in the "doubtful starter" cateogry earlier in the week because of an injury scare.He and wing Junior Togia are the most dangerous attackers in the home side and they may need some magic from them if they are to pull this one off.
The Wairarapa-Bush team is: Nick Olson; Junior Togia, Heemi Tupaea, Sam Mitchell, Tommy Harmon; Byron Karaitiana; Nick Risdon; Nathan Rolls; Chris Senior, Tomasi Kedrabuka, Andrew McLean, Joss Tua-Davidson, Jared Brock, Ben Pereira, Kurt Simmonds. Reserves: Api Matenga, Sele Tugaga, Keiran Te Whare, Richard Puddy, Corey Reid, Jared Hawkins.
The curtain-raiser match at Memorial Park tomorrow will feature the Wairarapa-Bush secondary schoolgirls team up against their Wanganui counterparts.This is the Wairarapa-Bush team which won the second division title at the Hurricanes regional tourney without conceding a point in their three games.What's more, they managed over 160 points of their own, a staggering achievement.