Who wants to be fifth wheel?

Defending home: Fa'alele Iosua and his Pirates team have a tough task tomorrow against Premier leaders Border at Spriggens Park.

It is the party where, literally, nobody wants to be the fifth wheel.

Every weekend of the remaining six rounds of the Tasman Tanning Premier regular season will have feature game between two teams in the Top 5, where the result has a direct impact on the status of home semifinals or even missing out entirely.

Black Bull Liquor Pirates understand the gravity of the situation as they enter their second straight weekend of three against a fellow playoff contender - the toughest test against leaders Waverley Harvesting Border.

Last weekend, Pirates were in a healthy spot in second place, but met a PGG Wrightson/Balance Taihape hell bent on saving their season at Memorial Park, going down 40-24 in a open game of footy.

That saw Pirates drop to third and should Border deliver on the form book tomorrow at Spriggens Park, while the other teams win their matches with the lower-ranked sides, Pirates would be in danger of that dreaded fifth spot - which even with four games afterwards would make anyone decidedly nervous.

"It's a competition within the competition," said Pirates coach Phillip Morris.

"Nobody's confident, everyone's going for 1 or 2."

"A good side is going to miss out. I've been coaching a long time and never known [final placings] to go this deep in the competition."

One crucial component over the June games is players juggling their Saturday club rugby with week-day Steelform Wanganui matches, as on top of their big injured-reserved list, Border had six players involved in Monday's fast-paced match with the Hurricanes Development team.

Pirates also have three players backing up, but given they are the young standouts from Samoa like Fa'alele Iosua, Morris is not too concerned about fatigue.

Back home, they train daily and can have a couple of matches per week, he said.

"They're boys that prepare themselves pretty well. The more rugby they get, the better they'll be for it.

"I'm not going to hold them back at all."

The newcomer to watch is midfielder Vaovasa Afasua, who literally stepped off the plane last Friday to get straight into local rugby, having been fogged in at Auckland airport the previous week, while Morris pulled him out of bed at 10am on Monday to play the Hurricanes Development match.

"He's solid, [but] I want to see a lot more of him.

"He's got the pedigree. Defensively, very good."

Defence will be the key for Pirates, as it is noteworthy this season they have leaked over 100 points more than Border, who like the home side pride themselves on being an expansive attacking outfit.

That proved the issue against a committed Taihape, as Pirates had to chase the game from the first quarter onwards.

"We gave them 20 points," said Morris.

"The knowledgeable rugby old timers up there said it was one of the best club games they had seen in years.

"[Taihape's] Dane Whale played well and we didn't get as many goal kicks."

Morris was still confident his side can rise to the occasion tomorrow, as they will look to reverse the 48-22 loss in Waverley on April 8, while Border are looking to go better than their previous trip to Spriggens - the 30-22 loss to Marist on May 13.

In the other matchups, Taihape will bring their newly-won Grand Hotel Challenge Shield to the Country Club to meet Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau, Marist head up country to take on the always-dangerous Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri, and Utiku Olds Boys host McCarthy's Transport Ruapehu.