Carterton ?magic? ends long drought

A COMBINATION of Fijian magic and stout defence paved the way for Carterton's 17-5 win over Eketahuna in the grand final of the Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby competition at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
It was a victory which signalled Carterton's first premier division title since 1990 and it ended the remarkable run of Eketahuna, who were attempting to win the premiership for a fourth successive time.
The game produced a much closer contest than the end scoreline would suggest with Carterton clearly having the better of the first half and Eketahuna spending most of the second spell camped deep in opposition territory.
But whereas Carterton were able to turn their territorial advantage into points on the board through two converted tries and a penalty all Eketahuna had to show for their efforts was a solitary try.
Mind you, they didn't help their cause points-wise by at least twice turning down what would have been "gift" penalty attempts in favour of scrums which consequently failed to produce the desired try.
Carterton's stirring first half performance was marked by the outstanding play of their forwards, and in particular their Fijian trio, locks Tomasi Kedarabuka and Langi Peters and flanker Andrew Compain.
Kedarabuka and Peters were in commanding form at lineout time, winning their own ball with ease and often either attaining or spoiling opposition ball as well. And they also featured in several rampaging bursts in broken play,, as did Compain whose speed and constructivness at the breakdowns was equally good.
It was hardly surprising then that it should be Kedarabuka and Compain who were the Carterton try scorers, although the Fijians were by no means the only Carterton forwards to make a big impact with their ability to make ground with ball in hand.
Skipper Joe Harwood was his usual no-nonsense self whenever given the chance to open up the opposition defence, and prop Bert Buckle was similarly effective in that respect.
The Eketahuna forwards didn't have the same unity about their play in the first half as they did in their semi-final win over Gladstone and they paid the price for it. Their set piece play at lineout and scrum lacked the authority expected of them and they were also surprisingly lax in their close quarter defence around the fringes of the rucks and mauls.
Little was seen of the attacking skills of either backline in the opening 40 minutes, but Carterton did benefit from the kicking skills of their inside combination of Justin Lett and Nathan Sanson who invariably kept their forwards on the front foot.
With a 17-0 halftime lead and Carterton having dominated the action both in terms of territory and possession the odds were in favour of the maroons romping away to a big win in the second spell, but to Eketahuna's credit that didn't happen.
In fact, that half belonged almost entirely to the Bush side who constantly hammered away at the Carterton lineout, but despite being heavily favoured in the penalty count, were only once able to get themselves across the tryline.
It was wing Joji Tamani, scorer of four tries in the 2005 final, who completed a move which saw fullback Simanu Simanu provide Tamani with a sniff of an overlap and his pace did the rest.
Perhaps on reflection Eketahuna could have utilised the attacking skills of Simanu and Tamani more than they did, for they looked dangerous just about every time the ball was moved wide, especially Tamani whose speed off the mark often had defenders grasping at fresh air.
But generally they played a secondary role to their forwards who were clearly superior in the scrums, thanks to the power of players such as Brendan Walker and Angus McMillan, who tightened their approach in the rucks and mauls to the extent they were able to make huge progress there as well. Indeed it was from that avenue that loosies David Smith and Steve Olds regularly tested the Carterton defence with their strong runs.
Tested the Carterton defence may have been, but very seldom did it crack, and nobody was more diligent in their tackling than No.8 Brodie Duffin, who would have been a leading contender for any player of the match award. Several times he made the tackles that counted as Eketahuna's pack drove towards the Carterton goalline and, what's more, he was adept at turning over possession as well.
It wasn't only Duffin who was diligent in defence though, others like forwards Compain, Kedarabuka and Damon Searle and second five Glen Bunny served Carterton with distinction in that area too.
It was a thoroughly encouraging effort from Bunny who has been troubled by injury through most of the season and came off the reserve bench early in the first half. He had few chances to impress on attack, but he was always prepared to work overtime in defensive situations.
Tomasi Kedarabuka and Andrew Compain were the try scorers for Carterton with fullback Jono Hurley landing two conversions and a penalty to bring his own points tally for the season to 162. Joji Tamani scored a try for Eketahuna.
The two other grand finals played at Memorial Park on Saturday were a triumph for East Coast although they didn't have much to spare. They beat Martinborough 15-10 in the premier B decider and Eketahuna 6-3 in the Presidents grade final.
Highlight of the premier B match were the two tries scored by young East Coast winger Nic Olson which took his tally for the season to 23. Others to shine for the Coasters were halfback Luke Mckenna and forwards Ken Scott, Joe Wyeth and Robert O'Neale.
Martinborough kept their supporters on their toes with some entertaining play in the closing stanzas as they desperately sought the try which would give them victory. Backs Owen Coulson and Ryan Renata and forwards Josh Hawkins and Sam Welch stood out for them.
An interesting feature of East Coast's winning President's grade line-up was the number of players included in their programmed side who have been stalwarts of their premier division line-up in recent times, players like Quentin Robertson, Mark Percy, Guy Williams, Craig Stuart, Graeme Bolstad and Justin Haeata,