Russell relishes attacking challenge

Wairarapa-Bush coach Peter Russell admits his team have made an art of "winning ugly" in their opening three Heartland championship rugby matches this season but he believes the negativity of opposition teams have played a big part in it.
And so news that North Otago intend to place the emphasis on attack in the pool A top-of-the table clash at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday is music to Russell's ears
That promise was made yesterday by North Otago coach Mike Mullins who, like Russell, has been frustrated at the defensive-orientated tactics mounted against his side in Heartland matches..
"From what we have seen of North Otago they do like to move the ball around and we are pretty much the same," Russell said.
"It would be nice to think there would be some flow in the game, for spectators as well as players I guess."
Russell said match statistics showed just why Wairarapa-Bush made such hard work of beating East Coast 10-6 at Ruatoria last Saturday.
The Coasters fielded a heavyweight pack and their game plan revolved around slowing the tempo of the game down to where it got to almost walking pace.
And they succeeded in their endeavours as illustrated by statistics which showed there were more than 50 scrums and 100 restarts in the match. In fact, there were so many stoppages in the second half it lasted all of 51 minutes.
"We just seemed to be going from one restart to the next so it was very hard for us to get any continuity into our game at all," Russell said.
The Wairarapa-Bush coach is mindful too though that his own players contributed to what was a disappointing spectacle by too often "stuffing up" possible scoring chances through basic errors or poor option taking.
"Maybe if we had scored another couple of tries early on they (East Coast) would have been forced into taking a few risks and the game would have opened up a bit more," he said.
Not surprisingly then Russell says one of the prime objectives for Wairarapa-Bush this weekend will be to turn their try scoring opportunities into points on the board.
"We have be a lot more efficient in our finishing work," he said.
"It's all about doing the right things at the right time and that's where we need to improve. When tries are there to be scored we have to score them, no excuses offered."
Wairarapa-Bush are likely to have a weight advantage over North Otago in the forwards but Russell isn't reading too much into that, saying it will be his team's ability to counter the mobility of the opposition pack which could have the biggest say over who wins control in the forward exchanges.
"We know they will be quick to the breakdowns and keen to run the ball back at us and it's important we are ready for that," he said.
Three changes have been made to the Wairarapa-Bush starting XV from that which initially took the field against East Coast, and all of them come in the forwards.
Young South African Albertus Buckle, who scored his first try for the union against West Coast a fortnight back, comes in for Brett Rudman at prop, lineout ace Tomasi Kedarabuka replaces Langi Peters at lock and Mike Spence has got the nod ahead of Brodie Duffin at No.8.
Buckle, Kedarabuka and Spence are all players noted for their ability as ball runners and their selection is very probably a sign that Wairarapa-Bush management are keen to give nothing away to North Otago in terms of mobility up front.
There are no changes to the backs with Hamish McKenzie's retaining of the halfback spot ahead of James Bruce perhaps the only talking point there.