The tongues were wagging after the 2012 Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition kicked off on Saturday.
Five matches were played in the premier league and all of them provided a talking point, probably none more so than the 30-5 defeat inflicted on defending champions Gladstone by Martinborough.
That scoreline was not, however, as surprising as it might seem as Gladstone have a new-look squad this season and were always likely to take a few games to find their feet.
Martinborough, on the other hand, have retained most of their players after a promising 2011 campaign and are being widely touted as serious contenders for the first division crown this time round.
They ran in five tries to Gladstone's one.
Bush Sports were making their debut in the Wairarapa-Bush competition when they took on the Rams (formerly Masterton Red Star) at Pahiatua and they couldn't have hoped for a better start, winning 51-3. They scored eight tries with three players, Jake Tipene, Greg Harding and Hamish Walker, all notching a brace.
Puketoi went into their match with Carterton at Carterton with high hopes of extending, or even beating, last year's Tui Cup runners-up but the mainly young Carterton squad rose to the occasion in a 27-10 success. Six tries were registered, four of them to Carterton, with Puketoi's two going to their highly regarded Fijian recruits Eroni Gaunavou and Epeli Rayaqayaqa.
Pioneer and East Coast were always likely to have a battle royal at Whareama. After both teams scored two tries it came down to goal kicking and Pioneer had the edge, converting three of their penalty chances through the boot of promising Tipene Haira to East Coast's two.
The feature game at Memorial Park saw an Eketahuna team inspired by the outstanding form of flankers Johan Van Vliet and Rupeni Tamani defeat a brave Marist 34-16. Eketahuna scored five tries to one.
Scoring details:
Martinborough 30 (C. Whittaker, R. Brown, J. Hawkins, K. Te Whare and G Dennes tries; Dennes conversion, penalty), Gladstone 5 (C. Heyton try).
Bush Sports 51 (J. Tipene 2, G. Harding 2, H. Walker 2, S. Marshall-Wilton, C. Lawrence tries; J. Bennett-Davies (4 conversions, penalty); Rams 3 (M.Henderson penalty).
Carterton 27 (M. Apiata, L. Jones, J.McFadzean, Ponti tries; D.Brown 2 conversions, penalty); Puketoi 10 (E. Guanavou, E. Rayaqayaqa tries).
Pioneer 19 (D. Paku, H. Peacock tries; T. Haira 3 penalties); East Coast 16 (S. Alsop, A.Fraser tries; N. Olson penalty, Z. Aporo penalty).
Eketahuna 34 (D. Hopa, M. Matatini, G. Creman, R. Temani and J. Van Vliet tries; M. Matatini penalty, T. Meuli 3 conversions); Marist 16 (D. Gleeson try, J. Goodger 3 penalties, conversion).
Detailed report of Eketahuna-Marist match on page 24.