Cross Country Rentals Eketahuna bounced back to winning form in this season's Wellington premier division women's rugby competition with a convincing 34-5 defeat of Stokes Valley at Eketahuna on Saturday.
It was a much improved performance from the defending champions in comparison to what they had provided in their 24-22loss to Wainuiomata in their opening game seven days earlier but coach Selwyn Haeata still had his feet firmly planted on the ground.
"Fitness is an issue and we didn't always follow the game plan.
"We're still a long way from where we need to be," he said.
Standouts in an Eketahuna pack which struggled at times to combat the size and physicality of their Stokes Valley counterparts in the set pieces were player of the match Andrea Taiaroa, Raylene Reiri and Lisa Marie-Ireland.
And Black Ferns Rebecca Mahoney and Shakira Baker were the leading lights in a backline which simply had too much flair and pace for their opposition.
"We were all over them in the backs but we didn't always take advantage of that, some of the option taking was pretty average," Haeata said.
This coming Saturday will see Eketahuna hosting Norths, who have recorded big wins in their opening two games.
Meanwhile, the newly formed Ruamahanga side gave a brave showing in their 32-20 loss to Kia Toa in a Manawatu colts competition match played at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
Sean Robinson and Malu Lole scored the tries for Ruamahanga, with Manahi Fox kicking two penalties and Andre Daley-Nooroa two conversions.
Coach Joe Dahlberg was pleased with the improvement shown by Ruamahanga from the previous weekend but said they would need to continue that trend to be competitive in a competition in which the leading sides would very probably trouble the top senior A teams in Wairarapa-Bush.
