Key players in doubt for West Coast clash

Wairarapa-Bush could be missing four key players for their NPC third division rugby match with West Coast at Greymouth this coming Saturday.
Fullback Bart Viguurs, centre Simanu Simanu, prop Joe Harwood and lock Tomasi Kedarabuka retired hurt in the 38-11 win over Thames Valley at the weekend and coach Peter Russell says all of them are in the "doubtful starter" category.
Viguurs has a strained cruciate ligament, Simanu a heavily bruised sternum, Harwood a pulled quad muscle and Kedarabuka a damaged shoulder.
The loss of Viguurs and Simanu would severely dent Wairarapa-Bush's attacking prowess as they have been amongst their team's best in that regard.
Harwood would have been a strong contender for any player of the match award against Thames Valley, making several punishing runs in broken play and being the cornerstone of an impressive scrum.
Kedarabuka has been outstanding all season, relishing the challenge of being his side's main option at lineout time and showing typical Fijian aggression on both attack and defence.
It is unlikely that Russell will risk any of the quartet if there is a chance of them being sidelined long term as the third division semis are nearing and Wairarapa-Bush looks certain to qualify, probably in either first or second positions.
Currently they are one point behind surprise leaders Buller but the latter have two "toughies" in King Country and Horowhenua-Kapiti to come while Wairarapa-Bush completes their preliminary round programme by taking on lesser lights West Coast at Greymouth and then the disappointing Mid-Canterbury at home.
Russell himself was not overly impressed by his team's winning effort against Thames Valley, labelling it as "pretty shabby".
He was disappointed his side had gone away from the game plan, too often trying to move set piece ball without first providing the right platform for that to happen.
"We made it easy for them (Thames Valley) to defend what we were doing and consequently there were too many turnovers," he said. "It's all very well trying to use your pace out wide but you need to be structured in how you do it, and that's where we fell down."
Russell wasn't too happy either with some of his team's defensive work especially that which let in a soft try just before halftime.
"I know we were well ahead at the time but we have to play as if every game is a final and that sort of thing just isn't good enough,"he said. "We dropped our focus and you can't do that. For me that try was about the worst aspect of the whole game?..it was just poor rugby on our part"
With that in mind Russell intends to hammer home the message to his team at tonight's training session that 100 per cent commitment has to be the prime aim from now to the end of the season.
"We need to keep winning, and we need to keep winning well," he said."It's the wrong time to be getting into bad habits."
Meanwhile, both the Wairarapa-Bush colts and senior B rugby teams had big wins on Saturday.
The colts won the B section of the Hurricanes under-20s competition when they scored a decisive 32-3 victory over Poverty Bay at Palmerston North.
The success wasn't as comfortable as it might sound, however, with Wairarapa-Bush playing with the wind behind them in the first half and only having an 8-3 advantage at the break.
Coach Mark Rutene said the problem for Wairarapa-Bush was that they attempted to launch their attacks from too close to the ruck and were consistently "smashed" by an assertive Poverty Bay defence.
But in the second spell they had concentrated on moving the ball two or three phases wider and had run the big Poverty Bay forwards off their feet.
"I think they (Poverty Bay) got in our half a couple of times, that's how dominant we were," he said.
Loose forwards Jared Hawkins, PJ Harrison and Josh Mackey were outstanding for Wairarapa-Bush as were backs Trent Vatselias and Richard McGregor.
Vatselias (2), Harrison and McGregor scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush and John Dodd landed two conversions and one penalty.
Saturday's win should take Wairarapa-Bush into a promotion-relegation match with the bottom team in the A section of the Hurricanes competition, Hawke's Bay, but the Bay were apparently not too keen on the idea on Saturday evening.
Wairarapa-Bush, on the other hand, are keen for the match to be played and are hoping for a positive decision from the organisers within the next day or two.
"The rules say the match should be played and we simply want the rules to be followed," Rutene said. "The boys deserve a crack at promotion and we're keen to give them that chance."
The Wairarapa-Bush senior B's beat their Horowhenua-Kapiti counterparts at Levin 24-12 to keep their hopes of victory in their central region competition alive. They have suffered just the one loss, to Wanganui, and get the chance to gain revenge on them at Wanganui this coming weekend.
Coach Steve Thompson was pleased with the win over Horowhenua-Kapiti with Wairarapa-Bush always having control on the scoreboard.
"Our set pieces went well and we scored some nice tries??.it was a good all-round effort," Thompson said.
Young first-five Te Maika Mason was a standout for Wairarapa-Bush as were locks Norm Henricksen and Tim Fleming and loosies Stacey Grant and Nathan Rolls.
Fleming, Mason, Dave Murdoch and Lance Stevenson scored tries and Mason kicked two conversions.