Ruapehu looking to make their Premier rugby mark against Marist

Ruapehu's new look front row combinations like Gabriel Hakaraia, Roman Tutauha and Te Uhi Hakaraia have played their part to help get the defending champions to the top of the 2018 Premier table.

The sensational six has been reduced to a fantastic five but no team still in contention for the Tasman Tanning Premier semifinals can be comfortable heading into tomorrow's penultimate round.

Even defending champions McCarthy's Transport Ruapehu cannot drop intensity despite their lead of the table and two home matches at Rochfort Park remaining, beginning with the game of the round with a resurgent Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist.

The mountain men's consistency to just carry on their business and remain at the forefront of Premier rugby has been very impressive, given the original narrative for 2018 was all about re-building after the retirement of several club stalwarts following last year's thrilling grand final win over Waverley Harvesting Border.

But the squad that made the long journey down to Dallison Park to shut out Border 26-12 last Saturday conclusively stamped themselves as the form side of the competition.

Nonetheless, assistant coach Mark Green won't hear of it, as is the Ruapehu way.

"The boys are taking it quietly," he said.

"I talked to the Taihape guys after that [June 16] match, and home games [advantage] don't count for much.

"[Border] will give a bit of confidence to the boys, but we've got to keep level headed.

"Every game's a final from here on out.

"The old points table is pretty close, apart from other years, which is good for the area."

With the arrival of the talented Mitchell Millar to compliment a backline with the leadership of Craig Clare, power of Troy Brown, speed of Shaquille Waara and the in-house rise of Kahl Elers-Green and Josh Fifita, Ruapehu were never going to be underestimated.

This was especially true given they still have the most potent loose forward trio in Campbell Hart, Jamie Hughes and youngster Jack Kinder, along with Jackson Campbell able to alternate from lock.

But the area where Ruapehu looked brittle was their overall young and relatively untried prop group in representative player Gabriel Hakaraia, brother Te Uhi Hakaraia, Mac James Edmonds and Ezekiel Anderson.

It was the biggest question mark, and also Ruapehu's biggest work-on area as coach Daisy Alabaster and the recently retired Kim McNaught have worked diligently to hone their abilities, with McNaught happy to make the odd 10-minute cameo comeback off the bench at the end of some games.

"Kim's just been awesome right through the whole season," said Green.

"They are coming along well, good prospects. Probably [needed] more game time and fitness.

"It's good to have four props, which we didn't think we would have at the beginning of the season."

The remaining leadership group in captain Roman Tutauha and Andrew Evans have likewise steered the next generation in the right direction.

Given they dispatched Border by 22 points and then ended Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau's last ditch bid for the top four in consecutive games, Green is still expecting a stronger Marist team than the side they dealt to 45-10 at Spriggens Park in April.

"You can't take your eyes off them - we did last year and they gave us a hammering."

Marist's best game in several seasons was the 48-17 shutout of an injury-depleted Ruapehu at Spriggens Park in July last year, but Ruapehu merely regrouped and won their way to another title, including a white-knuckled 10-9 win over Marist in the semifinals.

The visitors coming after the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield tomorrow now have the addition of first-class veteran Pene Nabainivalu slotting in at first or second five to compliment the experienced outside backs in Cameron Crowley and Simon Dibben.

Prop Viki Tofa and in-form hooker Jack Yarrall, likely to be Tutauha's understudy for Steelform Wanganui, will look to test themselves against the Ruapehu front row, while lock Sam Madams is always up for a good tussle in the country.

In the other games, Byfords Redimix Taihape are in sudden-death mode when they head to the Country Club to meet a Kaierau outfit with nothing to lose, while fifth-placed Border will be looking to get back in the top four, toot sweet, after hosting Harvey Round Motors Ratana at Dallison Park.

Black Bull Liquor Pirates expect to lock down their prospect of a home semifinal when they face Settler's Honey Ngamtapouri at Spriggens Park.