{"id":4143,"date":"2016-07-20T16:59:06","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T04:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/?p=4143"},"modified":"2016-07-21T15:24:17","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T03:24:17","slug":"carterton-brace-for-forward-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/2016\/07\/20\/carterton-brace-for-forward-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Carterton brace for forward battle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Carterton
Carterton midfielder Andy Humberstone scored 19-points against Eketahuna, including two tries.
Photo courtesy of Catherine Rossiter-Stead.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By WALT DICKSON<\/h5>\n

Joe Harwood knows a thing or two about close quarter combat.<\/p>\n

Uncompromising in his playing days the former hooker led Wairarapa-Bush to the Meads Cup title in the inaugural Heartland Championship in 2006.<\/p>\n

In the same year he also captained his Carterton club side to the Wairarapa-Bush senior-A club title.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising then that he is picking Saturday\u2019s Tui Cup semi-final against Gladstone will be won up front.<\/p>\n

As a player he knew where the big games were decided. The question is, as a coach can he instil that mentality in his players?<\/p>\n

The competition has produced some interesting results in recent weeks. What has been most notable is the rise of Gladstone having won four games on the trot, each effectively a sudden death match.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed with Harwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cGladstone is one of those sides who always know how to perform at the right end of the season, so it is going to be a good old battle,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And that battle begins \u2013 and ends \u2013 up front.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got two options, you either stand back and let them come at you or you decide to take it them as well, so it should be a good battle that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since winning the round Moose Kapene Cup Harwood is the first to admit the second half of the season has been tough going.<\/p>\n

Injuries to key players have not helped Carterton\u2019s cause, however barring anything going askew at training this week, Harwood reckons they will be able field a full strength squad, the first since the end of round one.<\/p>\n

Speedster Corey McFadzean, who has missed much of the second round, played against Eketahuna last weekend as did first-five eighth Jono Hurley. Both McFadzean and Hurley were missing from Carterton\u2019s narrow \u2013 and lucky \u2013 win over Marist the previous weekend.<\/p>\n

Arguably one of the key players will be the versatile Andy Humberstone who has to date had a stellar season.<\/p>\n

But in order to show his tricks, first Carterton will have do the business up front.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing comes back to ruck intensity and set pieces. That is where the battle is going to be decided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gladstone have some top class forwards, such as Andrew McLean and Richard Puddy, but overall there is little difference between the two packs, Harwood says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, I suppose they [Gladstone] have always been a forward dominated team that knows how to get on the front foot and take the break down areas,a so if we don\u2019t compete there then we are going to struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

DRAW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Tui Cup)<\/strong>
\nCarterton vs Gladstone , @Carterton<\/em>
\nGreytown vs Marist, @Greytown<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

(Hodder-Seffert Cup)<\/strong>
\nEketahuna vs Martinborough, @Eketahuna<\/em>
\nPioneer vs East Coast, @Jean Street<\/em><\/p>\n

(Reserves Top 6)<\/strong>
\nPioneer v Marist, @Jean Street<\/em>
\nTuhirangi v Masterton Red Star , @Pirinoa<\/em><\/p>\n

(Bottom 6)<\/strong>
\nPuketoi v East Coast, @Pongaroa
\nPioneer Old Boys v Featherston , @TrustHouse Memorial Park<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WALT DICKSON Joe Harwood knows a thing or two about close quarter combat. Uncompromising in his playing days the former hooker led Wairarapa-Bush…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-club-rugby","category-wbru-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/AndyHumberstone2.jpg?fit=800%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4apEV-14P","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4143"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4149,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions\/4149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waibush.co.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}