Hard day at the office ends in rout

Their backs made enough handling errors to last them a whole season but Manawatu were still a class above Wairarapa-Bush in their Bruce Steel Cup rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton yesterday.
In what was their first serious hit-out in their lead-up to the Air NZ Cup and missing no fewer than 11 of their contracted players through injury, Manawatu won 76-7 but if they had taken anything like advantage of their scoring chances their tally would have run well into three figures.
Several times through the course of the game and especially the first half the Manawatu backs split the Wairarapa-Bush defence apart only for passes to be dropped as the goal-line beckoned.
So while they did manage to run in 12 tries the value Manawatu achieved from the absolute glut of possession they obtained from the forward exchanges was nowhere near what it should have been.
To be honest there wasn't a lot of value from this game for Wairarapa-Bush either.
Coming off the back of massive defeats by a Wellington XV (49-0) and Hawke's Bay (79-0), hopes were the locals could at least make a nuisance of themselves against such a depleted Manawatu side but they simply didn't get enough ball to assess their worth as an attacking unit, either individually or collectively.
Yes, they did score the first try of the second half after going to the break 45-0 down and, yes, it did come from a well-executed move which ended with fullback Greg Wilson diving over in the corner but opportunities of that nature were very few and far between.
It was a different story defensively of course with Wairarapa-Bush constantly having to front up to a wave of green-and white jerseys coming at them at a rapid rate of knots.
Under normal circumstances the number of missed tackles would have been considered alarming but with such a hefty workload in that sphere the Wairarapa-Bush effort was probably as good as you could expect it to be.
And it spoke highly for their resolve that they were throwing themselves into their tackling as eagerly at the end of the game as they were at the start.
Middle rowers aren't generally at the head of the tackle counts but lanky Fijian Tomasi Kedarabuka would have taken some beating in this particular game. Not only did he make a number of big hits around the fringes of the rucks and mauls but he somehow got across to bowl over the Manawatu outside backs on quite a few occasions as well.
Wairarapa-Bush skipper Mike Spence didn't have too much chance to demonstrate his running skills from the No 8 position but he too got through a power of work on defence and other forwards diligent in that area were flanker Solly Alsop and hooker Mosese Sela.
In set-piece play though it was a hard day at the office for the Wairarapa-Bush pack. Their scrummaging was better in the second half than it was in the first but the platform there could never be described as solid and while Kedarabuka got up high to make a few clean takes there was a messiness about the lineout play which had to be a concern.
And while they did manage to turn over some ball with their vigour and determination in the rucks and mauls they seldom made much headway there from a territorial viewpoint.
While Kedarabuka would have been a serious contender, any player of the match award for Wairarapa-Bush would surely have gone to young halfback Mike Hollis. He had anything but an easy ride behind a pack often on the back foot but he generally gave his outsides a swift and accurate service. And you also had to admire his gutsiness on defence despite the predators usually being twice his size!
Apart from Hollis though you couldn't honestly say any of the other Wairarapa-Bush backs on display enhanced their prospects of regular selection come the Heartland championship games.
Obviously the lack of quality ball meant their attacking skills were dimmed to a large degree but even when half-chances occurred they very seldom got themselves over the advantage line. And while they stuck at it on defence, the number of times they were beaten on the outside break through sheer speed and acceleration certainly needs addressing.
Manawatu was captained by former Wairarapa-Bush hooker Rob Foreman and he was one of his team's most impressive performers in a pack which also had a trio of strong runners in loosies Ray Allen ,James Sua and Dan Alofa and big, robust locks in James Goode and Lisiate Fa'aoso.
Their poor handling seriously clouded the performance of the Manawatu backs but when the ball did stick wingers Siaose Anamani and Aaron James and centre Johnny Leota generally made good metreage.
Aaron James (3), Siaose Anamani (2), Kurt Baker, Aaron Good, James Goode, Josh Bradnock, Lisiate Fa'aoso, Dan Alofa and Johnny Leota scored tries for Manawatu and seven of them were converted. Greg Wilson scored the solitary Wairarapa-Bush try.