Carterton coach Steve Hurley has branded his side as "gutless" following their 10-17 loss to Martinborough in a Senior A's club rugby match on Saturday. Martinborough outscored the home side three tries to two with winger Tommy Te Kani, Adam Marshall and Jason Rankin dotting down, consigning the defending champions totheir second straight defeat. But it wasn't the defeat itself that had Hurley riled up; it was the manner in which it was inflicted. "I don't mind a defeat when you actually put the effort in but to lose like that was horrible," he said. "I'm pissed off and bitterly disappointed with the boys and I make no apologies for that. "You can have the best team in the comp but when they play with no spirit and no guts there's really nothing you can do. "Martinborough played well, they played with plenty of spirit and we have no excuses at all, it was a gutless performance." The loss firmly rooted Carterton at the foot of the table with East Coast and Puketoi, who both suffered heavy defeats on the weekend. Playing at home Puketoi felt the full backlash of Eketahuna who were still smarting from their tense one point loss to Pioneer last week. The northern boys ran riot scoring ten tries in their 63-7 rout to put a smile on the coaches' faces. "We're a heck of a lot happier than we were last week," coach Daniel Elms said. "The boys stuck to the game plan and played controlled footy and it paid off. "They weren't happy with last week and the coaches even less so, so it was good to see them go out and play with a bit of vengeance." At Whareama, East Coast could not contain a Pioneer side that continued their strong start to the season, cruising home comfortable winners 34-3. After a tight, physical first spell the game opened up and the visitors experience eventually proved too much as they ran in six unanswered tries. In the battle of the big guns it was Gladstone who stayed unbeaten, coming out on top with a hard-fought 25-15 victory over Marist.
