We?re in with a real chance of glory

The Heartland championship might be a second tier rugby competition.
But if passion counts for anything it would be light years ahead of the higher-rated Air New Zealand Cup.
Wairarapa-Bush's gripping 25-19 win over North Otago in Saturday's semi-final provided a graphic illustration of what success in this largely amateur competition means to the country's smaller provincial unions.
That last 10 minutes where Wairarapa-Bush were hanging on to a six-point lead and North Otago were launching attack after attack as they strove for what could be the winning converted try will remain etched in the minds of those lucky enough to witness it.
The fact North Otago made Wairarapa-Bush's defensive task somewhat easier by being very one-dimensional in their attacking play- constantly trying to bash their way through in midfield when they had pace to burn our wider-couldn't overshadow the resolve and resilience of the locals.
Or their willingness to implicity trust a defensive strategy based around everybody doing their job in a totally committed and assertive manner.
And what a huge part a good-sized crowd played in the end result.
They roared their approval every time a tackle was made and on each occasion North Otago threatened to cross the Wairarapa-Bush line the velocity of their vocal support became that much greater.
For those of us who still easily reall the "good old days" of 1981 when Wairarapa-Bush stunned the nation by earning promotion to the national first division competition it was a trip down memory lane.
Not that anything will probably ever again match their exploits when they won the North Island second division and national second division titles, plus promotion to the premier league, all in the space of seven days.
But if the current Wairarapa-Bush squad can successfully complete a programme which has seen them playing Wanganui, North Otago and now Wanganui again over a three-week period?.well, it would be something pretty special as well.
That Wairarapa-Bush are capable of becoming the first winners of the Meads Cup under the Heartland banner cannot be questioned
Rather than be a minus their top six playoff narrow loss to Wanganui can be viewed as a blessing in disguise.
Wairarapa-Bush "bombed" a number of prime try scoring chances that day yet failed by just a converted try to grab the spoils.
They know now exactly what has to be done to achieve a success this time round and under the astute leadership of coach Peter Russell and skipper Joe Harwood you can bet the mistakes of the previous game won't happen again.
Obviously too Wanganui will be better prepared but the burden of expectation could be their biggest enemy.
They will be playing in front of a home crowd anticipating them confirming their favouritism with a comfortable win and many a sporting team has lost the plot under that sort of pressure.
The national divisional side for a short tour of Argentina is to be named on Saturday evening and with Wairarapa-Bush seemingly certain to be represented there they are already guaranteed something to celebrate.
But wouldn't the beer taste even better if the Meads Cup was at the forefront of the end-of-season team photograph as well.
GO THE BUSH!!!!!!!!