Kuranui College First XV will be warm favourites to win Saturday's grand final of the Wellington secondary schools premier four Onslow Cup rugby competition but they are not about to take anything for granted.
Manager Geoff Shepherd, who also just happens to be Kuranui principal, says the pre-match message to theplayers as they prepare to confront Otaki College First XV at St Pat's Silverstream grounds will be that what has gone before has to be treated as a distant memory.
"Grand finals can produce strange results and often it's the underdog who prevails," Shepherd said yesterday. "Complacency can hurt and we don't want to fall into that trap."
Shepherd wants to see Kuranui playing the same sort of attractive rugby which has seen them undefeated in their preliminary round matches and semifinal (where they beat Tawa College).
"We like to move the ball around and give our backs every chance to shine, and we won't be doing anything different this time," he said.
First-five Liam Berry, son of former All Black and long-time Wairarapa-Bush representative Marty Berry, is a key figure in the Kuranui side, for his astute reading of play and the accuracy of his goalkicking, while another backline star is midfielder Sean Duffy. Captain is dynamic front rower Jaden Carter.
Kuranui has had just the two boys' teams playing in club competitions this year and the other, their Second XV, will also play a grand final on Saturday.
They will face Rathkeale Green at Memorial Park in the Wairarapa-Bush secondary schools junior grade decider.
It will kick off at 10am, the same time as the open grade final, which will feature Wairarapa College seconds and Makoura College seconds.
Sunday will see the Wairarapa-Bush under-11, under-12 and under-13 JAB sides taking on their Dannevirke counterparts at Eketahuna.
