Pioneer work for victory

Pioneer had to work harder than expected for their 49-9 win over Featherston in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match played at the Colombo Rd grounds in Masterton on Saturday.
In just their second match back in the top league after an absence of several seasons and coming off the back of a 78-12 thumping by East Coast, Featherston were expected to be easy pickings for a Pioneer side already being touted as one of the frontrunners for competition honours but they were anything but that.
For the first 20 minutes Featherston gave as good as they received, especially in the forward exchanges where their feisty pack, well led by Wairarapa-Bush flanker Tommy Sargent, competed aggressively in all of the prime ball-winning departments.
Even at halftime when Pioneer had moved out to a 19-9 lead the thought was that Featherston needed only to score first in the second spell for the game to develop into a battle royal but, as it happened, it was Pioneer who found an extra gear, adding five tries to the three they had managed in the first 40 minutes to ensure maximum points came their way.
Pioneer No8 Lee Ewe was undoubtedly the player of the match. He made several storming runs from the No8 position and was seldom halted by the first tackle. Fellow loosies Mike Harmon and Pele Ioelu also had strong games for Pioneer, Harmon impressing with his high workrate on both attack and defence and Ioelu with his tackling and his speed to the breakdowns
The Pioneer backs were always quick to seize any attacking opportunity, with halfback Trevahl Rimene providing a swift and accurate service, second-five Tommy Harmon running with power and purpose and speedy wing Charlie Brown again demonstrating his nose for the tryline, touching down on three occasions. There was also a lot to admire in the versatility of Joe Papaali, who looked right at home at both fullback and in the midfield.
Apart from the hard-working Sargent, who was here, there and everywhere, Featherston had few individual standouts, rather it was their unity, particularly up front, which left a lasting impression. Lasting enough to suggest, in fact, that any team who takes them lightly in the weekends ahead could be in for a nasty shock.
Charlie Brown (3), Mike Harmon (2), Dennis Paku, Joe Papaali, and Cole Pureau scored the tries for Pioneer with W. Fox kicking two conversions and one penalty and Tipene Haira one conversion. S. Sinclair kicked three penalties for Featherston.
The clash of the hitherto unbeaten teams at Whareama turned into a surprisingly one-sided affair, with East Coast running in five tries and beating Marist by a decisive 49-13. It was the inventiveness of the East Coast backs which took the eye, with numerous counter-attacks making huge territory gains. Zeb Aporo, D. Porter, Jesse McGilvary, Matt O'Connor and Nic Olson scored tries for East Coast with Byron Karaitiana landing a dropped goal and one conversion and Porter four conversions and two penalties. They were also awarded a penalty try. James Goodger scored a try and kicked a penalty for Marist and Seuituri Tafa scored one try.
Masterton Red Star and Greytown went right to the wire in their fixture at Memorial Park No2 and it was Masterton Red Star who sneaked home for their first win of the season by 16-15. Sam Davis scored their try and Jamie Fraser kicked one conversion and three penalties while Kingi Kaiwai and R Slater scored the Greytown tries. Kaiwai also landed a conversion and Rhys Lett kicked a penalty.
Gladstone and Carterton also had a thriller of a game, with Gladstone scoring three tries to two and edging out the defending champions by 22-18. Chris Bargh. Bevan Morland and Michael Vuicikau scored tries for Gladstone and Vuicikau kicked two conversions and one penalty. Jono Hurley and D. Field scored tries for Carterton and Hurley kicked two penalties and one conversion.
Martinborough ran in five tries in defeating Puketoi by 34-6. Josh Hawkins, T. Te Kani (2), Eli Telford and Warren Ireland were the Martinborough try scorers and Greg Dennes added three conversions and a penalty. Jason Liverton kicked two penalties for Puketoi.