South Canterbury — who are unbeaten and remain the competition benchmark — Whanganui and Thames Valley have already secured their Meads Cup playoff spots.
Mid Canterbury should retain their fourth spot as well and are expected to beat winless Poverty Bay today.
King Country, West Coast, Horowhenua and East Coast hold the Lochore Cup spots for now.
But all the intrigue will be around East Coast (15 points) when they face Wairarapa Bush (12 points) today.
Wairarapa Bush need to win, which would put them one point ahead of East Coast and snag the final Lochore Cup playoff spot.
In Weston, weather gods willing, North Otago are home to Buller in their final game of the season.
They fell 32-17 to King Country last week after a poor final 10 minutes that let the Rams run away with the game.
Buller sit above the Old Golds in 10th, having recorded two wins against Poverty Bay 36-28 and 13-11 against East Coast. But they have been on the end of some pretty hefty scorelines this season, including a 59-14 loss to Mid Canterbury last week.
The Old Golds will want to finish their season on a high after recording only the one win when they thumped Wairarapa Bush 69-19.
Valley first five Isaac Clunie will make his Heartland debut at No 10, becoming the 18th player to debut for the Old Golds this season, after being on the bench the past two weeks.
Clunie’s inclusion shifts Greg Dyer to fullback and Ben McCarthy out to the right wing. Tini Feke returns at second five.
Prop Lisivani Tuifua will start on the blindside, while co-captains Mat Duff and Cameron Rowland pack down at openside and No 8 respectively.
Heartland Championship
Weston, 2.30pm
North Otago: Greg Dyer, Ben McCarthy, Matia Qiolevu, Tini Feke, Hayden Todd, Isaac Clunie, Jake Matthews, Cameron Rowland, Mat Duff, Lisivani Tuifua, Fergus Read, Apenisa Tuiba, Mateo Qolisese, Ryusei Kato, Jake Greenslade. Reserves: Kasimila Vaihu, Max Sawers, Bradley Harewood, Conor Lawson, Jacob Pledger, Jamie Mullan, Chihiro Matsuyama, Oli Knopp.
