Frustrating finish to successful season

Post mortems will show the 2004 season to have been a successful one for the Wairarapa-Bush rugby team in terms of results, but also frustrating in that they seldom played to their full potential.
Few pundits would have had them making it through to the grand final at the start of their NPC third division campaign.
But as they continued to chalk up the wins during the preliminary rounds the prospect of it happening became increasingly likely, particularly when they beat Mid-Canterbury at Ashburton in the last of those games to set up a home semi-final.
Mid-Canterbury provided the opposition there as well and while the match never rose to any great heights Wairarapa-Bush did enough to make it through to the competition decider against Poverty Bay at Gisborne.
What was anticipated to be a close contest was eagerly anticipated but a couple of diabolical refereeing decisions and inept defence saw Poverty Bay romp home at 37-14 and Wairarapa-Bush had to be content with the runners-up spot.
Just why the improvement results-wise was so dramatic compared to 2003 when they finished amongst the tail-enders in the third division series is difficult to define.
There wasn't a huge difference in playing personnel, the coaching and management team was very much the same and the standard of opposition seemed pretty similar as well.
On reflection it was the competitiveness of their forwards which kept Wairarapa-Bush to the forefront of the competition table.
Certainly the platform at scrum time was about as solid as one can recall from a Wairarapa-Bush team in the last decade or so and if there was the odd game where the lineout didn't function as well as it might have they were the exception rather than the rule.
In rucking and mauling too Wairarapa-Bush usually had the edge on their opposition and if they didn't have a real flier amongst their loose forwards they were seldom outgunned in that department.
The Wairarapa-Bush backs struggled with their option taking. They had enough pace in the outside backs to extend any opposition defence and when their midfield were given room and space in which to operate they also took some stopping.
But a lack of variation in their tactical approach, plus a tendancy to "telegraph' their moves,meant the backs seldom utilised their attacking skills to the fullest extent.
Defensively the Wairarapa-Bush rearguard was usually up to scratch and it was unfortunate they should leave their worst effort in that area to last. The tackling in the final against Poverty Bay was weaker than it had been all season.
Without question though the most frustrating aspect of the Wairarapa-Bush play was their regular habit of having opposing teams under the cosh and not delivering the knockout blow.
In fact, there wouldn't have been an NPC game where lapses of concentration did not affect their performance, and one wonders whether that was as much an off-shoot from the poor standard of play at club level as anything else
In terms of individual effort one player stood head and shoulders above the rest. Lock Stu Smith was in magnificent form in game after game and has deservedly won the Air NZ player of the year award by a country mile.
Huge progress was made by Rob Foreman at hooker , Dylan Higginson at prop and Dan Joblin at lock and Esava Teko on the wing and older hands like No 8 and skipper Mike Robinson, flanker Brian Saolele , second-five Nathan Couch and centre Simanu Simanu consistently showed the value of experience.
Wairarapa-Bush was well served too by the usually accurate goal kicking of Patrick Rimene, undoubtedly one of the best in that area in the third division competition.
Any review of the 2004 season wouldn't be complete either without mention of the excellent work done by selector-coach Peter Russell, his assistant Chris Luman and manager JJ Johnson.
They worked hard to ensure their side was not only successful on the field but had a harmonious relationship off it as well .
Retaining them in the "hot seats" for 2005 should be the number one priority of the Wairarapa-Bush union within the next few weeks.