Win looks all but assured for North Otago

NORTH Otago will have it all to play for when it takes on East Coast in Ruatoria today.

There are 10 teams still in the running for the playoffs in the Heartland Championship while eight of them could still squeeze into the topfour Meads Cup competition if results go to plan.

North Otago sits second on 24 points, one point behind leader Thames Valley, and will fancy its chances against East Coast which has lost 49 games in a row at Heartland Championship level.

However, East Coast at home has been known to grow another leg as it did last weekend, when it went down 2420 to neighbour Poverty Bay.

The week before it got within a couple of points of sixthplaced West Coast.

North Otago will need to be well aware of the danger of overconfidence.

East Coast is without import Zac Guildford.

North Otago has not really stamped its mark on Heartland rugby yet this season.

It has won five of seven games this sesaon. The biggest winning margin was 24 points when it beat Mid Canterbury 3410, scoring six tries, only two of which were converted.

Other victories were not as convincing but they were still wins.

The wins were recorded over South Canterbury (six points), Poverty Bay (four points) and Thames Valley (one point) while Wairarapa Bush was beaten 2511 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

North Otago lost 1817 to West Coast and 2722 to Wanganui.

North Otago coaches Jason Forrest and Nick Anderson have been forced to make one change to the side, Jake Greenslade coming in at No 8 in place of Josh Clark who has been sidelined with an AC injury.

The other games are obviously of utmost importance for North Otago and are knockout clashes for many.

Buller (21) will host Poverty Bay (19), HorowhenuaKapiti(17) meets Wanganui (23) in Levin, King Country (13) plays Thames Valley (25) at Te Kuiti, Mid Canterbury (10) takes on WairarapaBush (24) in Ashburton and, in what looks like the game of the round, South Canterbury (23) is at home to West Coast (22).

The top four teams play in the Meads Cup and the next four teams in the Lochore Cup.