A COMMON SIGHT: Wairarapa-Bush defend their goal line in numbers. PHOTOS/CHRIS KILFORD
NOBODY could begrudge North Otago their 18-16 win over a plucky Wairarapa-Bush in the Heartland championship rugby match played at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
The southerners, who flew north from Oamaru on the morning of the game and arrived in Masterton about 1.30pm in the afternoon, spent long periods of the game relentlessly pounding the Wairarapa-Bush line and, while they had two tries to show for their efforts, they would probably have had triple that number but for the home team's stoic close-quarter defence.
Several times the North Otago forwards looked certain to force their way over for a five-pointer, only to be thwarted by the assertive tackling of their Wairarapa-Bush counterparts.
This, of course, was a historic occasion, being the first Heartland game played on an artificial surface, and under lights for a good measure, and while the crowd size was probably smaller than anticipated the closeness of the score and the physicality of the battle certainly meant they got their money's worth.
That they had to withstand so much pressure, yet led 10-6 at halftime and were still in with a winning chance right up to the game's end, spoke volumes for the resolve of the Wairarapa-Bush side and made them deserving of the bonus point they picked up for the winning margin being seven or less.
Ironically enough, considering their goal-line defence was so solid, it was the failure to make first up tackles further up the field which all too often allowed North Otago to get early momentum into their attacking plays.
Their midfield backs were often used as the target men for the forwards to work off and they invariably got over them over the advantage line and put them on the front foot.
The Wairarapa-Bush forwards could feel happy enough with their stability in the scrums and the accuracy of their lineout play, where James Goodger and Chris Raymond were outstanding, but they did have trouble combating North Otago in the mauls.
There the visitors seemed more compact and united.
In broken play situations, however, the Wairarapa-Bush forwards came into their own, with hooker Andrew Makalio leading the way. He made several storming runs and it wasn't only his sheer power which impressed but his ability to sidestep and swerve and his rapid acceleration. He would have been his team's player of the match by a country mile.
Young flanker Raymond backed up his lineout skills by being busy and effective in in the looser phases of the forward game, and Goodger's mobility around the paddock was also patently obvious. Prop Kurt Simmonds also deserves special mention for the number of crucial tackles he made around the rucks and mauls.
The Wairarapa-Bush backs were a mixed bag. Defensively they struggled to contain the hard-running North Otago midfielders, and there were occasions when quality ball was wasted through short kicks being made and the ball being comfortably gathered up by their opponents.
Halfback Cody Whittaker did little wrong, however, and whenever wing Cameron Hayton and fullback Nick Olson were given room in which to operate they usually took advantage of it. Sam Sturgess and Nathan Cargo scored the North Otago tries and Ben Palmer added one conversion and two penalties. Kurt Simmonds scored the sole Wairarapa-Bush try and Tim Priest kicked one conversion and three penalties.
-In other Heartland matches Buller suffered a surprise 21-7 loss to West Coast, Poverty Bay were edged out 43-37 by Thames Valley, defending Meads Cup champions Mid-Canterbury had to work overtime for their 30-28 win over Wanganui, King Country beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 34-28 and South Canterbury walloped East Coast 57-5.
-Wairarapa-Bush play Buller in Westport next Saturday.