Rugby
Wairarapa-Bush rugby head coach Mark Rutene gave his side a pass mark after their 30-23 win over United States Collegiate at Memorial Park on Wednesday.
Rutene was wanting a decent hit-out for his team and got his wish with Collegiate fighting back from a 24-3 halftime deficit to trail by just 24-23 with seven minutes of play remaining. Two long-range penalty goals by Wairarapa-Bush first-five Glen Walters finally brought a halt to their momentum.
"It wasn't perfect by any means, but there were enough good signs to keep us happy," Rutene said. "Basically it was a game of two halves, we did a lot of the attacking in the first half and most of the defending in the second. The ticker we showed to hang on when they came at us was very encouraging, you can build on something like that."
Pleasing too for Rutene was the good form shown by several relative newcomers who were out to stake a place in the Heartland squad, players like midfield back Tapaga Isaac, No8 Nathan Iro and front rowers Finbarr Kerr-Newell and Campbell Lawrence.
But that doesn't necessarily mean these players - or all the older hands for that matter - will be part of the squad that takes on Wanganui in another "friendly" to be played at Wanganui on July 3.
Rutene said some of those who were unavailable for the Collegiate game for various reasons could be included there, among them hooker Ben Pereira, lock Sam Marshall-Wilson and backs Teihana Brown and Byron Karaitiana.
"The best way of finding out if players are ready for the next level is to play them so, yes, there will be some changes for the Wanganui game," Rutene said. "It's not a case of sacking anyone, it's just that the more players pushing for Heartland places the better."
Meanwhile, matches in the Tui Cup premier division interclub competition continue tomorrow with two of the leading contenders for semifinal berths a little further down the track in Greytown and Eketahuna meeting at Greytown.
This should be a whale of game, especially up front, with Eketahuna no doubt fancying the chances of a pack containing the likes of Dan Griffin, Johan van Vliet, Rupeni Tamani, Joss Tua-Davidson achieving a measure of superiority over their Greytown counterparts in the battle for possession.
Greytown, on the other hand, will probably take the view that if they can win even 40 per cent of the ball there is enough scoring potential in their backline to get them home. And that's hard to argue when you consider they have Glen Walters, Tapaga Isaac, Teihana Brown and Tavita Isaac calling the shots. The accuracy of the Walters boot is another bonus for Greytown and in a closely-contested match it would not surprise if he had the final say.
East Coast come to Memorial Park to confront Marist and they will see this as a royal opportunity to pick up the maximum five points, four for a win and a bonus point for scoring four or more tries. The one hope for Marist is that East Coast will turn up expecting a comfortable win and produce a sub-standard performance as a consequence, but with a wily old hand in Ritchie Robertson cracking the coaching whip it's hard to see that happening.
Pioneer will also start warm favourites against Bush Sports at the Jeans St grounds in Masterton but with Bush Sports having picked up their first Tui Cup win for this season a couple of weeks back (they had the bye last Saturday) their confidence will be high and, like East Coast, Pioneer will need to guard against complacency. The expectation is Bush Sports will take them on up front and rely on inside back Jordan Bennett-Davies to keep them on the front foot with his kicking. Pioneer should win but you wouldn't want to bet the house on it.
The same could be said about the Carterton v Martinborough clash at Carterton. All things considered the smart money would have to be on Martinborough, as much because of the greater flair in the backs than anything else, but at the same time Carterton can't be discounted. They have some pretty rugged types in their forwards who won't mind a heavy track and if they produce a committed 80-minute effort anything could happen.
In the senior reserve grade it is the Jeans St battle between Tuhirangi and Pioneer that will capture the most interest. Tuhirangi have yet to taste defeat, but any Pioneer team is hard to beat on their home ground where the vocal support is always worth a couple of extra points. If Pioneer get their noses in front early watch out.