Grand finalists seek entertaining encounter

Entertainment will be the name of the game when Gladstone and Marist meet in the grand final of the Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition on Saturday.
Gladstone coach Steve Thompson says his team will be intent on playing the true 15-man game and similar sentiments have been expressed by his Marist counterpart Sid Tatana.
Thompson said it would be folly for Gladstone not to place the emphasis on attack considering the number of skilled attackers they had at both back and forward.
"We're pretty well off all-round when it comes to players who can run with the ball so obviously we're not going to mind if there is a lot of movement in the game," Thompson said."
Tatana also believes his Marist side play better when they are adventurous in their approach.
"I know some people say grand finals rugby is all about sticking to the basics but every now and again you have to task risks," he said. "It can harm you at times but it can also bring points, you don't know unless you try, do you?"
Thompson is not surprised Marist are in the grand final as he sees them as perhaps the most consistent of all the first division sides in 2007.
"They have been up amongst the leaders all the way and so they deserve to be there," he said.
Thompson said Gladstone "very definitely" would not be falling into the trap of seeing Marist as a side with classy backs but a somewhat weaker pack.
"Yes, they do have quality players in the backs but their forwards are no mugs either, they will make us tough for us up front, we know that," he said.
Tatana sees Gladstone as being dangerous opponents all over the paddock.
"They are very well balanced all the way through so there's not much point in looking to concentrate on exposing them in an one area," he said. "Like all teams though they will have weaknesses and our challenge is to expose them."
As it happens both Gladstone and Marist go into the grand final after seven point semi-finals wins, Gladstone by 16-9 over Eketahuna and Marist by 27-20 over Pioneer.
Thompson conceded that Gladstone took all of the first half to get an edge on Eketahuna but was delighted with the way his way his players lifted their effort in the second spell.
"We finished strongly and that's what we wanted to do," he said. "We didn't let the pressure get to us and that's important leading into as final."
Tatana's only grouch over Marist's victory was that by his clock the second half lasted all of 15 minutes more than it should have. He thought there was only about 5mins to go when he emptied out his reserve bench with Marist leading 27-5 and had to watch as Pioneer rattled in three late tries to whittle the Marist winning margin back to just 27-20.
"I don't know what happened but that second half seemed to go on forever, what should have been a comfortable win got pretty close in the end," he said. "But overall we were happy, we scored points when they were there to be scored and that's what you have to do if you want to be champions."
In their two meetings so far this season the score between Gladstone and Marist is one win apiece with Gladstone winning their grading round match 25-15 and Marist scoring a try right on fulltime to take out their top six match 24-20. Hardly surprising then, that while both coaches see their sides as capable of winning the grand final they are agreed that a close, exciting game is very much on the cards.
The likely starting line-ups for Saturday are:-
GLADSTONE: Matt Easton; Angus Crisp, Dave Drummond, Mike Shaw, Logan Uys; George Williams; James Bruce; Mike Spence; Steve Wilkinson, Andrew McLean, John Stevenson, Marcus Totman; Kurt Simmonds, Richard Puddy, Aaron Cook.
MARIST: Laurence Matthews; Jaco Pieterse, Ben Couch, Nathan Couch, Phil Aporo, Patrick Rimene; Api Matenga; Joe Nuku; Anthony Balks, Michael Hughes, Corey Reid, Rhys Severn; Terry Norman, Kyle Karaitiana, Lee Paku.