Kapene Cup match up brings back memories

East Coast premier division rugby coach John Pereira has fond memories of the late Chris "Moose" Kapene.
The two regularly fronted up against each other on the club scene-Pereira for Masterton and Kapene for Martinborough- through the 1980's and also played together for Wairarapa-Bush.
Pereira recalls prop forward Kapene , a New Zealand Maori representative and All Black trialist, as being one of the most fearsome runners with the ball in hand on the provincial scene.
"He'd wrap one hand around the ball and have the other free to fend.you off if you dared try to stop him. The crowds just loved him," Pereria said. "He was rugged but he was fair, something of a gentle giant I suppose."
Kapene's death at just 45 years old shocked the Wairarapa-Bush rugby fraternity in 2002 and was marked by the donation of a cup bearing his name by his family.
It goes to the leading team at the end of one complete round of matches in premier division play with Carterton becoming the first holders in 2002, followed by Eketahuna in 2003, 2004 and 2005, Pioneer in 2006 and Gladstone in 2007 and again last year.
This year gives East Coast a royal chance to add their name to that list for the very first time.
They go into Saturday's final series of first round games with a four-point lead over nearest rivals Masterton Red Star and are guaranteed the Kapene Cup if they beat Martinborough on their home patch at Whareama.
And how appropriate it is that it should be Martinborough who stands in their way as "Moose" Kapene was undoubtedly one of their favourite rugby sons, having played for them at junior and senior level over a long period of years.
The form book says East Coast should have little difficulty repulsing the Martinborough challenge but Pereira makes no secret of his respect for the southerners and isn't prepared to predict the comfortable win most pundits are anticipating.
Especially with not only the Kapene Cup being on the line but also the Bob Aporo Cup, which is played for regularly between the two clubs and is held by the Coasters.
"They (Martinborough) will come to play, we know that," he said. "They generally give us a good go and this one will be no different".
Pereira sees Martinborough fancying their chances of competing strongly enough in the forward exchanges to lessen the influence the pacy East Coast backs have on the end result.
"They won't want to give our backs any room and the best way to do that is to dominate up front. I would think the forwards are in for a hard day at the office," Pereira said. "If we don't take the fire out of their pack anything could happen."
Whether East Coast will be at full strength was questionable yesterday with wing Peter Gray and second-five Sam Mitchell both battling injury problems.
However, there is good news for the forwards with one of the star players in the squad which won the club their first premier division championship last year, lock James Balfour, finished with his dog trialing commitments and likely to return to the fray, if not this weekend certainly within the next fortnight.
Masterton Red Star for their part would complete a fairytale return to premier division rugby (after having to withdraw from last season's competition because of a shortage of players) if East Coast lose to Martinborough without picking up any bonus points, and they achieve the maximum five points for a win and four or more tries against Puketoi at Pongaroa. That would see the Kapene Cup go their way, also for the first time.