Greytown face Marist test

FIRING IT OUT: Pioneer halfback Victor Thompson gets his pass away during the Kapene Cup decider with Greytown last Saturday, which was won by Greytown 30-17.PHOTO/CHRIS KILFORD

They may already have the Kapene Cup in the bag and they may be leading the points table as the Tui Cup main championship gets into full swing but don't expect Greytown to get things all their own way in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match with Marist at Memorial Park, Masterton, tomorrow.

Greytown will start a warm favourite, the form book alone guarantees that, and there will be general surprise if they don't come away with the maximum five points to show for their efforts.

However, Marist have been one of the big improvers in premier division play and their 42-38 loss last weekend to another of the high-flyers, Eketahuna, illustrated a shock or two will be in store for any team who happen to take them for granted.

Eketahuna, winners over unbeaten Pioneer the previous weekend and narrowly defeated by Greytown the Saturday before, got out to a good advantage but had to fight tooth and nail to stave off a determined Marist comeback, which saw the two teams end up with six tries apiece.

The tactical approach of Marist in tomorrow's fixture will be intriguing to watch.

From all accounts, they have been playing their best rugby when the shackles are released and they look to run their opposition off their feet but they will be up against a Greytown side with the depth of ball-winning talent up front to restrict Marist's attacking opportunities, just as they did - especially in the first half - to Pioneer in the Kapene Cup decider last weekend.

One suspects for Marist to push Greytown to their limits, their forwards will need to produce their most committed effort of the 2014 season and with James Goodger, Kieran O'Brien, Jahrome Graham, Laurence Titter and Rhys Severn they have players capable of reacting positively to that challenge.

If they can provide anything like an equal share of possession for backs such as Pua Tafa and Malatai Malatai to strut their stuff they will be competitive.

A second premier division game will also be played in Masterton tomorrow with Pioneer up against Gladstone at Jeans Street and, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we again ask why on earth the start time of one of them could not be moved from the usual 2.30pm to 1pm so prospective spectators were not forced to choose between them.

While a Gladstone win would certainly be regarded as an upset, they will probably be fancying their chances of toppling a Pioneer side, who after a splendid start to the season, have now suffered two losses in succession, albeit to the top two teams, Eketahuna and Greytown.

The question is, can Gladstone keep Pioneer at bay by dominating the tighter aspects of the forward game?

Fail to do that and the flair and innovation of Pioneer's attacking play will likely give them the edge.

East Coast and Martinborough should have a battle royal at Whareama with both teams aware a loss will severely dent their prospects of making it to the Tui Cup semifinals further down the track.

The tactics will be interesting with the likelihood being East Coast will be wanting to regularly utilise the running skills of players like Nick Olson and Byron Karaitiana, while Martinborough might be more inclined to have their hard-charging No8 Tim Roberts lead a pack intent on gaining the ascendancy up front.

Carterton are certainly a better team now than at the start of the season but it's hard to imagine them staying in touch with Eketahuna in their clash at Carterton.

There might not be a lot in it in the forwards but you'd have to anticipate Eketahuna calling the tune in the backs through the combined skills of players like Sam Monaghan, Robbie Anderson, Paul Tikomainavalu and Tom Meuli.