North Otago supporters will have their eyes glued to two games in the final round of the Heartland Championship today.
First and foremost, they will be backing their Old Golds when they take on West Coast in Greymouth live on Sky Sport.
They will also be keeping a close eye on Thames Valley hosting East Coast.
A bonus point win over West Coast coupled with a Swamp Foxes win would see North Otago squeeze into fourth on the ladder and book a place in the Meads Cup semifinals.
Alternatively, if East Coast were to win and deny Thames Valley a bonus point, the old Golds sneak in on account of having the head to head result tiebreaker over Thames Valley.
Head Jason Forrest and the team are keeping their focus firmly on the first job of securing the victory.
"All we can do is get the win.
"We’ve had a good week and hopefully we can continue on from where we finished off in that last 40 last week."
Patience has been the word of the week when discussing their attack.
"We’re just going to get our big boys up front into their work and carry hard and clean hard. Then just wait and be patient before we pull the trigger.
"We’ve just got to want to do the hard work first."
In the second half against Thames Valley, they made a concerted effort to put the boot away and play with the ball in hand more between the two 22s.
Weather dependent, Forrest is hoping for more of the same this week.
"We’re just going to get our guys in their jobs and into their core roles in the middle [of the field].
"Play smart is all we’ve got to do. That’s the intention is to kick as a last resort for us."
They have made two changes in their starting XV with Taylor Dale and Levi Emery gaining promotions from the bench as Josh Clark and Junior Ravuvu are out with injury.
Emery will form a new look midfield pair with Jesse Bowring, shifting Matia Qiolevu to the wing.
Forrest is hoping to put the electric Fijian in open space to have him cause havoc for the defence.
"We’re just hoping to give him a bit of freedom."
Will Clapham and Petero Tuisiga come into the side on the bench.
The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sport 3 at 2.30pm.
Heartland Championship
Greymouth, 2.30pm today
North Otago: Lucas Ollion, Matia Qiolevu, Levi Emery, Jesse Bowring, Mone Samate, Tyron Davies, Tini Feke, Junior Fakatoufifita, Mat Duff, Lucas Casey, Rory Bartle (captain), Taylor Dale, Meli Kolinisau, Hayden Tisdall, Kelepi Funaki. Reserves: Samu Babiau, Lisivani Tuifua, Jake Greenslade, Petero Tuisiga, Kasimila Vaihu, Ben Paton, Josh Phipps, Will Clapham.
West Coast: Jarel Hemehema, Logan Ross, Nick Foxley, Shayne Anderson, Jaime Garland, Matthew Robbins, Cleve Barrell, Steve Soper, Josh Tomlinson, Will Schmetz, Josh Manning, Tumama Tu’ulua, Daniel Davis, Troy Tauwhere, Tyler Kearns. Reserves: Sione Lonitenisi, Daniel Foord, Jesse MacRae, Arnold Gibbens, Jarrod Ferguson, Sean McClure, Levi Carew, Logan Winter.
