Marist finish with bragging rights

The normal rustiness of early-season rugby was there for all to see but both Marist and Pioneer would have taken positives away from their opening Wairarapa-Bush senior first division fixture at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
The fact they came out of a torrid struggle with a 23-13 success meant Marist finished with the bragging rights and they did well to do so considering that three times during the course of the 80 minutes they were behind on the scoreboard.
And it could have been closer in the end too but for Pioneer wasting a couple of prime scoring opportunities late in the game through wild passes being thrown with the goal line beckoning.
Mind you, they were not alone on the wild passing front.
Marist too had more than their share of problems there and might well have registered another two or three tries themselves had their accuracy in that department been up to scratch.
What was pleasing though was that both sides were prepared to give the ball plenty of air and to launch attacks from deep inside their own territory.
The two backlines were certainly inventive in their thinking and on the occasions that passes did stick overlaps were generally created.
There was much to admire too about the physicality of the packs.
Sure, neither team will be too happy about the amount of possession which was turned over in the mauls, the sloppiness of some of the lineout work and the inconsistency of the support play but there was little to complain about when it came to sheer grunt No quarter was asked for and none given.
While both sides fielded a number of youngsters new to this level of rugby it was the older heads who mostly emerged as the individual standouts, players like Paddy Rimene, Daryl Pollock, Joe Nuku and Ben Couch for Marist and Nathan Rolls, Anton Kainuku, Tipi Rimene and Tommy Harmon for Pioneer.
They generally managed to do the things you would expect them to do, efficiently and without any fuss and bother.
In fullback Murray Gleeson, however, Marist would have had a prime candidate for any player of the match award.
He was a constant threat on the counter attack with his speed and elusiveness and his positional play was hard to fault as well.
Marist benefited too from the hefty punting and sound direction of first-five Kahu Matenga who was chosen for the pivotal role ahead of Paddy Rimene , the latter moving one place further out.
It was a selection process which worked well as Rimene looked right at home at second-five and his tactical nous often came to the fore in pressure situations.
In flanker Lee Ewe and front rower Ihe Namana Pioneer had two bruising runners in broken play and Tipene Haira showed definite promise at first-five.
Terry Norman, Anthony Balks and Paddy Rimene were the try scorers for Marist with Kahu Matenga adding two conversions and one penalty Tommy Harmon and P.Namana scored tries for Pioneer and Tipene Haira kicked a penalty goal.
East Coast gave an early hint of their intentions to successfully defend the first division title they won last year when they walloped Puketoi 51-10 in the game played at Pongaroa.
The Coasters placed the emphasis on attack and were rewarded with no fewer than eight tries, some of them spectacular affairs. Puketoi battled away bravely but didn't have the firepower in the backs to match their opposition.
Luke Shanks (2), P. Gray (2), Luke McKenna, TK Karaitiana Darren Walker and Nick Olson scored tries for East Coast with Nick Olson also landing one penalty and three conversions and R.Farrell one conversion.
Simon Finnie scored a try for Puketoi and Jason Liverston kicked one penalty and one conversion.
Masterton Red Star celebrated their return to senior first division play with a 23-8 defeat of Martinborough at Martinborough. It was a solid performance from the Rams who withdrew from the premier competition last season because of a shortage of players.
Wairarapa-Bush rep Jordan Watene scored two tries for them with Byron Karaitiana kicking two conversions and three penalties.
G.Dennes scored a try for Martinborough and they also kicked a penalty goal.
Carterton and Greytown had their usual tight struggle with Carterton managing two tries to one in their 13-5 victory.
Jason Scott and Nathan Namana scored the Carterton tries and Jono Hurley kicked one penalty goal. B.Vollebregt scored a try for Greytown.
Gladstone and Eketahuna went right down to the wire in their encounter and it was Gladstone who had their noses in front at the end, by just 11-10.
Dave Drummond was the sole try scorer for Gladstone and Jason Kjestrup kicked two penalties Eketahuna also scored the one try through R.Wolland and Grant Cremen added one penalty and one conversion.