Options aplenty for fullback berth

Just who will play at fullback is one of the question marks surrounding the 2008 Wairarapa-Bush Heartland rugby championship squad, named over the weekend.
No specialist fullback has been included although both first-fives Patrick Rimene (Marist) and Dean Grant (Gladstone) have experience there, as do utility backs, Nick Olson (East Coast) and Tawa "import" Junior Togia.
Wairarapa-Bush coach Kelvin Tantrum is confident any of that quartet could do a decent job at representative level and says the two remaining non-championship games against Poverty Bay this coming Saturday and Wellington B a week later will play a big part in deciding who gets the nod.
Well, at least for the first of the Heartland matches against West Coast in Masterton on Saturday, August 24.
Right now, however, the odds would have to favour either Rimene or new cap Grant as Tantrum is keen to have two proven kickers in his side and both Rimene and Grant are hefty punters of the rugby ball as well as accurate goal kickers.
That being the case, Olson, whose try scoring feats have already made him a legendary figure on the club scene, could be switched to the wing, the position in which Togia made such a good impression for Wairarapa-Bush when he last played for them two seasons ago
But if that duo are to start there that means one of Wairarapa-Bush most consistent performers from their most recent Heartland campaign, Carterton's Lance Stevenson, would be somewhat unluckily relegated to the reserves
Togia, of course, could also end up at centre, a berth which is not foreign to him either, but if club form counts for anything Englishman Charlie Walker-Blair, who plays for Carterton, would have to be the leading contender for that role.
He has the speed and strength to be a potential match winner, especially with the experienced and wily Nathan Couch likely to be inside him at second-five.
Other midfield backs in the squad are the Gladstone duo Mike Shaw and Jordan Watene and their solidity on both attack and defence will keep them in the frame too.
At halfback the battle is between old hand James Bruce (Gladstone) and promising youngster Mike Hollis (Greytown) and there Bruce's inside knowledge of the habits of both first-five contenders, Rimene and Grant, has to be in his favour.
In the forwards skipper Joe Harwood (Carterton) has to be the first string hooker ahead of Gladstone's Richard Puddy with the latter's liveliness sure to come in handy off the reserve bench.
Another Gladstone front rower in Kurt Simmonds is a promising youngster who will be pushing hard to oust either Brett Rudman (Greytown) or Dylan Higgison (Tuhirangi) from the propping berths although once again that word, experience, could be the decisive factor in who gets the starting spots.
At lock Tomasi Kedrabuka (Carterton) is probably the first name entered on any team sheet which leaves Jared Bambry (Puketoi),Upper Hutt "import" James Measor and, maybe, Pioneer's Nathan Rolls battling to join him there.
Measor is an unknown quantity as far as locals are concerned so no individual effort in the Poverty Bay and Wellington B matches will be followed more closely than his.
Vice-captain Mike Spence (Gladstone) has to hold the number one spot amongst the loosies, probably playing at No.8, with Rolls, his Pioneer clubmate Mike Wilson and Martinborough's Jared Hawkins contending for the two flanker positions.
The lineout skills of Rolls will probably see him in the No.6 jersey with the other two chasing the openside berth although all that could change when or should we say if a third allowable "import" for Heartland games is named.
The odds favour him being a forward capable of covering lock and blindside flanker.