Wairarapa-Bush may have the services of experienced midfield back Simanu Simanu for their non-championship rugby match with Manawatu at Memorial Park, Masterton next Tuesday. A combination of injury and ill health saw Simanu miss earlier games but coach Graeme Cheetham is optimistic it will be a case of third time luckyon this occasion. No one knows better than Cheetham how important a fit Simanu is to a Wairarapa-Bush side missing all but a handful of players from last season's Heartland championship-winning squad. Despite being heavily defeated in both the Wellington and Hawke's Bay matches, Wairarapa-Bush did manage to create a number of scoring opportunities but lacked a finisher of Simanu's calibre to make the most of them. Tuesday's game is also likely to see Wairarapa-Bush field a new inside back combination with Greytown-Tuhirangi youngster Mike Hollis expected to start at halfback and East Coast 's Te Maika Mason a serious contender for the troublesome first-five spot. Cheetham and his coaching partner Lofty Stevenson will be hoping that Mason produces the goods because if he fails to impress then their choices for that role in the future are limited, to say the least. But, happily, the halfback stocks have been boosted by the availability of seasoned campaigner James Bruce, who seems certain to come off the reserve bench at some stage of Tuesday's game. Cheetham said the composition of the Wairarapa-Bush side for the Manawatu match would not be finalised until Sunday's training session as a number of contenders already have injury hassles, and Saturday's club games could exacerbate that situation. However, Hollis, Mason and Simanu seem likely to be joined in the backline by midfielder Mike Shaw , wings Jordan Fox and Lance Stevenson and fullback Greg Wilson. Gladstone flanker Mike Spence will captain the side and with him in the loose forward trio will probably be Steve Wilkinson and Nathan Rolls. At lock should be Tomasi Kedarabuka and Andrew McLean and the front row will possibly have Mosese Sela at hooker and Shane Temana and Brendan Walker at prop.
