LUZ ZUNIGA/STUFF
Tasman Griffins' No 8 Tone Ng Shiu in action against Canterbury Metro.
The Car Company Tasman Griffins have the chance to complete the perfect season when they defend the Seddon Shield against the Tasman Red Devils at Trafalgar Park on Saturday.
The Griffins will be chasing their sixth straight win in a, so far, unbeaten 2017 campaign after securing the South Island Invitational rugby premiership title last weekend.
To date they've beaten West Coast (Seddon Shield) 32-15, Buller 57-14, Canterbury Country 33-24, Canterbury Metro 35-28 and Otago B 24-22 with only traditional rivals the Red Devils now standing in their way.
The Red Devils finished bottom of the three-team South Island Invitational championship series following a 36-17 loss to Southland B and a 22-17 win over Canterbury Maori. They'd prefaced that series by beating Buller 29-22, West Coast 31-17 and a makeshift Tasman Maori side 116-0.
The Griffins will be placing little stock in their respective records, other than an inevitable sense of confidence that comes with winning momentum. However, the Red Devils have one final opportunity for a memorable season finish and the Seddon Shield looms as the perfect prize.
It will be the Griffins' sixth defence of their current tenure since reclaiming the trophy with an 18-17 win over Buller in Westport in 2014. They'd lost the shield the previous season after a shock 14-12 loss to West Coast at Trafalgar Park.
Griffins head coach Dan Perrin said that his players won't be under-estimating the Red Devils' challenge.
"It's a pretty easy game to get up for against the traditional rivals ... the boys are pretty keen and looking forward to it," Perrin said.
"There's a huge importance on the significance of this one to retain the trophy. It's something the boys are pretty proud of ... it's not something they're not going to relinquish lightly, so they're definitely up for the challenge."
Perrin said that no-one was reading anything into the Red Devils' final South Island championship standing.
"I think they're a better team than that. By all accounts it sounded like they had an off day against Southland but you can never take a Marlborough team lightly, specially one that's coached by Bull [Mark Stewart].
"They"ve got some quality players there as well, so we'll respect that, control what we can and hopefully come away with a result.
"Defensively we'll have to be on the ball and any game's won up front for us and the way we want to play, so we'll definitely be having a crack at them."
The Griffins will field another strong lineup although Andrew Knewstubb and Morne van de Berg are bracketed at first five-eighth.
The match also doubles as a final trial before the Tasman B team is selected for games against Canterbury B and Wellington B.
Saturday's game kicks off at Trafalgar Park at 2pm.
HOW THEY LINE UP
TASMAN GRIFFINS: Sam Chamberlain, Stein Schreiber, Fletcher Matthews, James Hawkey, Tomas Aoake, Andrew Knewstubb/Morne van de Berg, Jack Kohler, Jacobus De Kock, Dan Hytongue, Tone Ng Shiu, Sam Liebezeit, Ben Eder (c), Drew Petelo, Brendan Asomua-Goodman, Ropati Polamalu. Reserves: Cole McBride, Pelefoti Siaki, Willis Scott, Te Puoho Stephens, Chris Kerslake, Nick Foxley, Morne van de Berg.
RED DEVILS (likely): Glen Ballam, Ula Fotu, Johnny Ika, Aisea Halo, Kavekini Tabu, Robbie Malneek, Ben Finau; Jesse MacDonald, Braden Stewart, Ofa Folau, Sam White, Reyne Volavola/Mike Curry, Jack Best, Billy Collins, Seymour Lambert. Reserves: Chris Goodyer, Lockie McCormick, Matt McCormick, Mike Curry, Josh Holdaway, Chris Bolton, Trance Poa.