Fitter side vital: Rutene

Wairarapa-Bush head coach Mark Rutene is determined fitness won't be a major issue for his team when the 2012 Heartland rugby championship comes around.

And that's why the extended 33-man squad named by Rutene and his assistant coach Paddy Gough for a match against New Zealand Universities at Memorial Park, Masterton on April 17, will still be required to attend weekly training sessions once that game is behind them.

"It's all about doing our best to ensure that conditioning isn't a problem once we get into the full swing of things," Rutene said. "There's no doubt we struggled in that area early on last season and we need to avoid that happening again."

The extra training will also allow Rutene and Gough more time to judge the capabilities of the many newcomers to their squad. Amongst them are two players who have played for the US at either 15-a-side or sevens in tighthead prop Eric Fry and loose forward Taylor Okate, while another American, midfield back Titapu Pairama-Lewington, has repped for Wellington under-20s. All play club rugby under Gough for Old Boys University in the Wellington competition.

Three Fijian backs, Epeli Rayaqayaqa, Jim Temoci and Eroni Gaunavou, are sure to attract plenty of attention too, as is English inside back Guy Wood.

Perhaps the most interesting omission from the initial training squad is loose forward Joss Tua-Davidson, who made such a good fist of the captaincy in 2011. Rutene said Tua-Davidson was still recovering from surgery to a knee and that, with work commitments, had put his availability for this season in doubt.

Rutene expects a New Zealand Universities team containing many players with ITM competition experience to offer stern opposition for Wairarapa-Bush.

He is, however, optimistic that his team won't suffer the same fate as Horowhenua-Kapiti did when they conceded more than 100 points in a similar fixture 12 months ago.

"Obviously, we're going to be a bit short of a gallop but hopefully we can still be competitive; we'll be aiming to make a decent game of it," Rutene said.