Gladstone and East Coast will need to buck a trend if they are to win their semifinals in the Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Union's Tui Cup premier division competition on Saturday.
They have played their respective opponents Greytown and Martinborough twice this season and have yet to succeed.
Greytown have beaten Gladstone34-15 and 17-13, while Martinborough have accounted for East Coast 13-5 and 30-17.
All four semifinalists are coached by former Wairarapa-Bush representatives. Ritchie Robertson (Greytown), Mark Percy (East Coast) and James Bruce (Martinborough) all played at halfback for the combined unions, and Steve Thompson (Gladstone) was a hooker.
Robertson was coach of Greytown when they claimed the premiership in 1992 and joint coach of East Coast when they took the title in 2008. Thompson was in charge when Gladstone hammered Carterton in last year's grand final. Robertson and Thompson have also coached the Wairarapa-Bush senior representative side.
Greytown go into the semifinals as top seeds after a string of impressive efforts in Tui Cup qualifying round matches but while coach Robertson has been happy with their lead-up form, he is quick to point out that past results count for nothing on Saturday and in the grand final which follows seven days later.
"It's always back to square one when you get to the knockout stage," he says. "You can't go thinking ahead of yourself. If you lose the first game, you're not there for the big one, it's as simple as that."
