Marist face big battle at Eketahuna

Second-placed Marist seem sure to find third placed Eketahuna a handful in their Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby match at Eketahuna tomorrow.
With just the one loss in their seven games to date Marist have the form book on their side but whereas the attacking talents of their backs have been the catalyst to victory in most of those matches it is their forwards who will be under the spotlight on this occasion.
Undoubtedly Eketahuna will be placing the onus on their pack to dominate the set pieces to such an extent that the Marist backs are starved off quality possession. They will certainly fancy their chances of achieving superiority in the scrums and in Dan Griffin and Josh Mackey they have two tall players sure to make a big impact at lineout time.
The Marist forwards struggled to get the measure of a fiesty Martinborough eight last weekend and will need to lift their effort a notch or two just to break even tomorrow. They are at their best when play loosens up and the ball-running skills of Corey Reid, Rhys Severn, Joe Nuku and Geordie Walden come to the fore.
In the backs though Marist appear to have a distinct advantage over Eketahuha in playmaking skills.Patrick Rimene and Nathan Couch are an experienced inside combination capable of dictating the trend of a game with just an average amount of ball and there are few more punishing runners out wide than Phil Aporo.
Eketahuna's rearguard, on the other hand, is more solid than brilliant, with the notable exception of Simanu Simanu, who currently has the flu and will probably not play tomorrow as a consequence. If he is missing Wairarapa-Bush reps Jon Guillard, Jorji Tamani and Dan White will have even more responsibility thrust on their shoulders.
Unbeaten Gladstone will be hotly favoured to make it eight wins from as many matches when they take on East Coast although the Casters will have the advantage of playing on their home track.
Carterton have won their last three matches after a slow start to the season and should pick up maximum points agaoinst Masterton Red Star at Memorial Park but nothing is certain in the Puketoi v Martinborough game at Ponaroa. Puketoi have had just the one win thus far but their performance level has improved markedly in recent times and Martinborough will need to be wary of them.
Pioneer will meet Greytown-Tuhirangi at their Jean Street headquarters in Masterton and this too should be an interesting encounter. The combined side have the better form background and will start favourites but Pioneer tend to relish the underdog tag and a win to them is by no means an impossibility.
Hard-working WBRFU administration guru Debbie Castles had advised a change in venue for the colts match between Masterton Red Star and Poneke tomorrow.It will now be played at Memorial Park No.2. kicking off at 1pm.