Russell thrilled with Wairarapa-Bush NPC deal

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell is "very pleased" with the draw facing his side in this year's NPC third division competition.
They will play four of their seven preliminary round games at Memorial Park in Masterton and as it happens the odds are their main opposition for competition honours will come from the teams they meet there??Horowhenua-Kapiti (August 27), South Canterbury (September 10), Thames Valley (September 17) and Mid-Canterbury (October 1).
"It's got to be in our favour to be playing so many of the stronger teams at home," Russell said. "If we can win all of them we'd have to be well on the way to making the playoffs wouldn't we?"
Not that Russell is under-estimating the opposition Wairarapa-Bush will face away from home either??Buller on August 20, King Country on September 3 and West Coast on September 24.
"Past history shows you can't count out any side, you have to be wary of all of them," he said.
Russell accepts that after finishing runners-up to Poverty Bay in 2004 Wairarapa-Bush will go into next season as one of the favourites for the third division title. In fact, he is already adamant they won't be satisfied with anything less than a top-of-the-table effort.
"When you've finished second the previous year there is only one way to go , isn't there?" he said. "We simply have to go one step further this time."
Before their NPC campaign kicks off Wairarapa-Bush will play five "friendlies". They will square up against Wellington in the annual Jimmy Cotter Memorial Trophy match in early May and then will follow matches against Hawke's Bay,a touring San Francisco club side, Manawatu and Wanganui.
The last of those games, against Wanganui, is to be played on a Friday evening at the Rugby Institute in Palmerston North.
Wanganui will have been in camp at the institute for the previous five days and have requested that Wairarapa-Bush play them there, a request which Russell was only too happy to accede to.
"It's a good venue and it's not a lot of travelling for us," he said. "And anyway we have a camp at the institute ourselves the following week so it all fits in well."
Meanwhile ,the search continues for quality locks to replace the three players who served Wairarapa-Bush so well in the middle row last season, Stu Smith, Dan Joblin and Dan Griffin.
Smith will be playing his rugby in Nelson-Bays in 2005 while Joblin will be in Otago and Griffin in Manawatu.
Coach Russell said "feelers" had been put out all over New Zealand as well as overseas for possible replacements but while there had been some inquiries from interested players nothing definite had resulted.
"We've even put an advert on the internet?..we're doing everything we can to attract the sort of player we need," Russell said.