Makos selection up for grabs

There is heaps to play for in the pointy end of the club season. The final Tasman Trophy games are this weekend and although Waitohi has wrapped up that title, clubs are still trying to lock down places in the following weekend’s semifinals. These will happen at the sub union level, so we have five Nelson teams still in the running for the division one semifinals.

As well as the Nelson club titles, which are a huge deal for the clubs, there are higher honours to compete for. To buy some time, Leon McDonald, Mike Fraser and I, the Makos selectors, want to use the upcoming emerging players tour as a final opportunity for players to make their claim for the team. We want to see how some players match up against outside competition by playing Canterbury and Otago.

That’ll put some pressure on Leon and myself to name a team and to get it right.

The selection process has been thorough but we’re still nervous about a few things. We’ve interviewed players, observed them at high performance training every week, and watched club form, where we’ve had selectors on the sidelines. In some cases we’re happy that we’ve got competition for spots and in other cases, we’re not that chuffed with our options.

But the process has been thorough, fair and transparent, and that’s the key thing.

We’re going to name the emerging players tour squad after the club semifinals, and we’ll be training the week after the club finals on July 19.

We play Canterbury and Otago the week after that and then we’ll deliberate and name the eight or nine players who have earned Makos spots on Monday, August 4.

One important thing to remember is that if a player doesn’t get picked, that doesn’t mean they won’t ever make it to that level of rugby.

It doesn’t mean they can’t be good enough in time, just that they’re not ready to go now.

And in the meantime, we still have semifinal spots to play for. In both division one and two in Nelson, the top three are set. It’s Wanderers 1st, Marist 2nd, and Waimea 3rd in division 1; and looking like Wanderers 1st, Waimea 2nd and Collingwood 3rd in division 2. In division one, if Kahurangi can beat Wanderers and score four tries for a bonus points win, then they leapfrog Nelson for the final slot.

And in division two, Riwaka will be 4 unless Huia can beat Wanderers with a bonus point and Nelson beat Riwaka.

It will be big day for rugby fans at Cooks Reserve in Riwaka where Riwaka plays Nelson in a division two clash at 1.15pm and Kahurangi battle the powerhouse Wanderers for their final shot at the playoffs at 3pm. Wanderers are safely entrenched as the No 1 seed but Kahurangi’s season rests on this game. Can they produce an upset?