Pioneer snatch last-gasp win

Gary Caffell
It was appropriate that the last scoring action in Pioneer's 13-12 win over Martinborough in the Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match at the Park Sportsground on Saturday was a penalty goal.
Pioneer fullback David Te Rito landed the all-important kick right on the stroke of fulltime to snatch victory for his side in a game in which they "bombed" numerous prime try-scoring opportunities through basic handling and passing errors.
Mind you, they were not alone there. Martinborough too had their moments of frustration through ball being spilled just as the opposition goalline beckoned.
The closeness of the final scoreline did, however, correctly indicate the evenness of the battle both in terms of possession and territory.
There was no lack of physical endeavour in the forward exchanges with the two packs looking to out-muscle each other in the tighter aspects but neither actually being able to justifiably claim they had gained the upper hand.
Pioneer benefited immensely from the powerful running in broken play of flanker Lee Ewe who constantly made valuable metreage. Invariably it took at least a couple of defenders to halt his progress and that was usually after he had left two or three others lying in his wake.
Skipper Nathan Rolls was typically prominent for Pioneer in broken play too, setting up the first try with a bursting run which saw him scythe through a couple of tackles before unloading to front rower Ihe Namana, who crossed untouched.
Martinborough had an absolute livewire on attack and defence in flanker Jared Hawkins and he turned over a wealth of possession through his knack of being in the right place at the right time. He also constantly harassed the Pioneer inside backs with his speed off the back of the lineouts.
The Pioneer backs struggled to get any fluency into their play with the handling and passing mistakes being a major cause in that respect. There were times though when the midfield of Joe Papaali and Tom Harmon did look dangerous with ball in hand and fullback Te Rito not only earned himself temporary hero status with his match winning penalty kick but was sound all-round.
Martinborough had a hard working and dependable second-five in Owen Coulson who was always prepared to run hard and straight and invariably breached the advantage line as a consequence. But as a unit their rearguard all too often had the same "dropsies" which stopped the Pioneer rearguard from showing their true attacking potential.
Ihe Namana scored a try for Pioneer and David Te Rito kicked two penalties and one conversion. All Martinborough's points came from penalties with Keiran Te Whare and Quentin Larkin kicking two apiece.
The surprisingly big wins secured by East Coast and Masterton Red Star over Gladstone and Carterton respectively left them as the only two teams in with a chance of winning the Chris Kapene Memorial Trophy, which goes to the leading side at the end of one complete round of matches. Next Saturday's games will decide their fate with East Coast having the inside running through having secured four bonus points more than Masterton Red Star.
Those bonus points are for having scored four tries or more and the Coasters were at it again this weekend, running in six in their 34-18 win over Gladstone. Speedy winger Luke Shanks scored three of them with others going to Saan Aporo (2) and Nick Olson. The goal kicking was not especially flash with Sam Mitchell landing the two conversions McBride and McKay scored the Gladstone tries and Harvey kicked two conversions and one penalty.
Masterton Red Star were expected to find Carterton a handful at Carterton but were simply too good on the day, running out convincing 31-10 winners. Greg Paku (2) and Corie Karaitiana scored their tries with Byron Karaitiana again proving his value as an accurate goal kicker. He was successful with four penalties and two conversions. Justin Lett scored Carterton's sole try and Jon Hurley kicked one penalty and one conversion.
Greytown continued their improved form with a 35-17 beating of Eketahuna and scored five tries in the process. John Avatea touched down twice and Senoa Isaac, Tavita Isaac and Kelling also produced five pointers. Senoa Isaac completed a fine all-round effort by landing five conversions. Brendan Walker, Graeme Cremen and Tua-Davidson scored tries for Eketahuna and Cremen kicked one conversion.
Loose forward Anthony Balks scored a hat-trick of tries for Marist in their 46-25 win over Puketoi in a high-scoring fixture at Memorial Park. Shannon Lewis, Derek Graham, Grant Wallace, Jareth Fox and Adam Wichman also scored tries for Marist with Kahu Matenga kicking two conversions and Nathan Couch one. Remarkably Jason Liverton did all the scoring for Puketoi with three tries, two conversions and two penalties.