Rugby
A last-minute penalty allowed East Coast to escape with an 18-18 draw with Pioneer in a thoroughly entertaining Wairarapa-Bush Tui Cup premier division rugby match at Whareama on Saturday.
It was a welcome change of fortunes for East Coast fullback Nick Olson who had been off target with several goal kicks, including seeing a penalty attempt just minutes earlier strike the uprights and rebound into play.
Even if he had been missed his last kick, however, Olson - a former national Heartland representative and a regular in Wairarapa-Bush teams in recent seasons - would still have emerged as one of his team's shining lights as he had scored two of his side's three tries, each of them in typically opportunistic fashion. Blocked for room, he kicked ahead and somehow managed to regain possession despite Pioneer appearing to have the situation well covered in both instances.
While the two sides were always prepared to move the ball wide whenever the opportunity presented it was the intensity of the forward exchanges which highlighted this particular match and neither side could claim to have attained any measure of superiority in the main ball-winning departments. East Coast did finish the stronger of the two but overall there would have been very little in it on the score of possession or territory.
Nothing was more impressive than the aggressiveness of the tackling by both packs around the fringes of the rucks and mauls and there was a lot to admire about the determination of the running in broken play, an area in which the durable Nathan Rolls was a standout for Pioneer and former Otago rep Ben Pereira and Tom Bowie likewise for East Coast.
Both backlines failed to make much headway from set piece play, not so much because of any lack of willingness to be creative in their approach but because of the stoutness of the defence. Olson's uncanny ability to make something out of nothing was always evident, however, for East Coast while a couple of young up-and-comers in the Pioneer rearguard, halfback Joseph Thompson and utility Damien Kamo-Paku, did nothing to harm their reputations.
Nick Olson (2) and Sam Barbour scored tries for East Coast and Olson landed a penalty. Eugene Thompson, Nathan Rolls and Damien Kamo-Paku were the try-scorers for Pioneer and Joseph Thompson landed one penalty.
Meanwhile, Eketahuna ran in six tries to four in beating Martinborough 38-29. Five of the Eketahuna tries were scored by forwards, two apiece to Dan Griffin and Johan van Vliet and one to Rupeni Tamani. The only back to touch down was Tom Meuli and he also kicked four conversions. Nathan Hunt (2), Greg Dennes and Tipene Haira were the try-scorers for Martinborough and Haira added three conversions and a penalty.
Bush Sports chalked up their first win in the Tui Cup with a 17-11 defeat of Carterton at Pahiatua. The home team scored three tries, two to Braden Woodmass and the other to Jake Tipene, while Jordan Bennett-Davies kicked a conversion. Luke Jones scored a try for Carterton and Daniel Nicho and Daryl Pickering each kicked a penalty.
Gladstone did not have everything their own way in their 17-7 victory over a plucky Marist at Gladstone. Inia Katia and Cameron Hayton scored tries for Gladstone and Hayton kicked two conversions and a penalty. Fiti Tauese scored the sole Marist try and it was converted by James Goodger.
In senior reserve matches Marist edged out Bush Sports 28-24, East Coast beat Martinborough 12-10 and Masterton Red Star blitzed Carterton 57-5, while the Wairarapa College first XV had a 22-13 win over Bishop Viard.