Wait and see, says confident Cheetham

Wairarapa-Bush coach Graham Cheetham says the local rugby community could be pleasantly surprised how his team shapes up in the forthcoming Heartland championship.
Cheetham and co-coach Lofty Stevenson have heard all the comments about how the current squad is sadly lacking the strength of the team which won the Heartland title last year and he freely admits the 2007 line-up have a hard act to follow.
But so encouraged was Cheetham by the performance of Wairarapa-Bush in a "friendly" against Tasman B in Nelson over the weekend he is "very hopeful" they will at least have their share of successes in Heartland games.
A strong Tasman B side captained by a former Wairarapa-Bush rep in lock Stu Smith won 28-5 but that was after leading 21-0 at halftime
"They were up 14 points after 15 minutes but after we started to get some cohesion into our game things evened out," Cheetham said. " The second half was impressive, we each scored a try then and we gave about as good as we got."
The Wairarapa-Bush try was credited to lock Dan Griffin who along with hooker Joe Harwood and flankers Josh Mackey and Solly Alsop took the eye up front.
With "imported" first-five John Dodd from Manawatu out with injury, Hamish Mckenzie played there with Mike Hollis at halfback and they combined well.
Perhaps the pick of the backline though were centre Heemi Tupaea, who was assertive on attack and defence, and wing Jordan Fox, whose fielding of the high ball in the wet conditions was exemplary and who made good ground whenever he had the chance to stretch his legs in an attacking sense.
The bulk of the squad which played Nelson are likely to be named on Wednesday in the Wairarapa-Bush side to Poverty Bay in their final non-championship match of the season in Gisborne three days later.
Poverty Bay have been struggling to find form so far this season and Cheetham is looking for another confidence-boosting performance from Wairarapa-Bush before they start their Heartland campaign with a match against West Coast in Masterton on August 18..
Meanwhile, talk that the WBRFU board should get themselves involved over the huge number of players who have made themselves unavailable for Wairarapa-Bush selection this season gets only muted support from Cheetham.
He understands that statistics like club champions Gladstone having just the one player in the current squad and beaten finalists Marist none at all, speculation was always going to be rife over the resaons why but he himself accepts the right of players to make up their own minds.
"From what we've been told work and family commitments are generally the reason for the way things are and that's something which we have no say in," he said."Obviously it's a hassle for us but we just have to live with it."
Cheetham said he and Stevenson were of the view that unless players were fully committed to the rep team then they should not be considered for selection.
"A strong team spirit is important, you don't get that unless everyone is working under the same rules," he said.
The long list of unavailabilities for the premier side would normally have been a worry for the Wairarapa-Bush B's as under normal circumstances they would also be considered unavailable for them as well.
However, coaches Steve Thompson and Sid Tatana named their 2007 B squad yesterday and it seems that rule no longer applies.
It includes regular Heartland players from last season in James Bruce and Nathan Couch, along with an "import" from the Western Suburns club in Wellington in hooker Willie Leota.
Interestingly, eight Gladstone players are included with the same number from Marist.
The full B squad is.-
Forwards: Lee Paku (Marist), Scott Madden (Martinborough), Terry Norman (Marist), Blair Gardner (Marist), Richard Puddy (Gladstone), Willie Leota (Western Suburbs), Kyle Karaitiana (Marist), Wills Clinton-Baker (Gladstone), Tim Fleming (Gladstone), Andrew McLean (Gladstone), Patrick Cassidy (Carterton), Phil Griffin (Eketahuna), Joe Nuku (Marist), Nathan Rolls (Pioneer).
Backs: James Bruce (Gladstone), Zeb Aporo (East Coast), Corey Broughton (Eketahuna), George Williams (Gladstone), Ben Couch (Marist), Kingi Kaiwai (Greytown-Tuhirangi), Nathan Couch (Marist), Russell Tamihana (Gladstone), Dave Drummond (Gladstone), Phil Aporo (Marist), Greg Wilson (Martinborough).