A former captain of the South Island rugby league team is making big waves in Wairarapa-Bush rugby. Dan Hape, 30, joined up with Masterton Red Star last month and, playing mainly at second-five, has made an immediate impression with his hard.running and powerhouse defence. It was while he was in Nelson acouple of years ago that Hape skippered South Island at rugby league, a sport in which he has also represented Wellington and Taranaki in the Bartercard Cup national inter-provincial series, either as a hooker or loose forward. Provincial honours have also come his way in rugby with Marlborough utilising his services in 1999, either at centre or second-five. While resident there he was able to mix both sports , playing rugby on a Saturday and rugby league on a Sunday. Hape is enjoying his stint with Masterton Red Star despite the fact they are very much in a rebuilding stage and have picked up just the one win to date. "It does get a bit frustrating when you keep losing but there's a good feeling in the team and we are improving with each game," he said. As to his own efforts Hape was been "pretty happy" with the way things have gone although he concedes he has taken time to come to grips with the different angles you have to run compared to rugby league, which is very much "up the guts" in that respect "Getting the angles right is important in rugby and I'm still working on that" he said. Hape has had approaches from Wellington rugby league officials to ascertain his interest in again playing for them at Bartercard Cup level but has indicated he is keen to continue with rugby in the foreseeable future. And would he be interested in playing for Wairarapa-Bush should be offered the opportunity.? "Yes, that would be great," he said. "It would be good to try myself out at that level again.".
