Race for places in the semifinals
gets tighter with
two rounds left
Carterton and Eketahuna pulled off upset wins when matches in the Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Union's Tui Cup premier division competition continued on Saturday.
The 24-14 win secured by Carterton over Pioneer at the Jeans Street grounds in Masterton might have been marred by ugly after-match incidents, but even they could not detract from the resolve shown by a Carterton side desperate to keep their semifinal hopes alive.
From the time they scored an early converted try, Carterton had their noses in front and while Pioneer were still a chance when they trailed 21-14 late in the second half it was Carterton who called the tune in the crucial closing minutes, sealing victory with a penalty goal almost on fulltime.
The game featured some torrid forward exchanges with Carterton having the edge in most departments.
The McFadzean brothers, Lachie and John, were outstanding in the lineouts and equally prominent in general play, Blair Heming was an industrious worker in the tight and Luke Jones covered huge territory in the loose. The constant pressure he placed on the dangerous Pioneer inside backs clearly had a big say in the end result.
The Carterton backs were generally content to play second fiddle to their forwards but there was some nice touches in midfield from Fijian sevens star Lote Raikabula and sound positional play from fullback Danny Brown. Halfback Jason Scott also did little wrong,.
Hard running No 8 Lee Ewe was again the pick of a depleted Pioneer pack which was always physical in their approach but lacked the unity of the Carterton eight. Charlie Naera was the pick of the "engine room". The best of a rearguard which was always willing to chance their arm was the versatile Damien Kamo-Paku.
Eketahuna kept their semifinal hopes alive with an exciting 26-25 win over Gladstone at Gladstone. Eketahuna led 11-3 as halftime approached but Gladstone struck back with a couple of tries in about as many minutes to lead 17-11 at the break.
The early stages of the second half were all Eketahuna and they moved out to a 26-17 lead before Gladstone kicked a penalty and then scored a late try to make it desperately close at the final whistle. In fact, had the conversion attempt from a comfortable range found its target, Gladstone would have had the win.
Lock Ben Traill was player of the match for Eketahuna. He was into everything, as were speedy loose forwards Rupeni Tamani and Johan Van Vliet.
Wing Mata Matatini was the pick of a backline which defended stoutly for 80 minutes.
As usual, Andrew McLean was a standout in the Gladstone pack and Inia Katia and Cameron Hayton stood out in the backs.
East Coast and Greytown also had a battle royal at Whareama. Both teams managed two tries but East Coast made more of their goal kicking opportunities and snuck home 18-12.
Martinborough replaced Greytown at the head of the Tui Cup points table when the death of a club member late last week led to Bush Sports defaulting to them in a game which was scheduled to be played at Martinborough.
Scoring details:
East Coast 18 (J. Fraser 2 tries; N. Olson 2 penalties and 1 conversion); Greytown 12 (T. Isaac and G. Van Dalen tries; K. Kaiwai 1 conversion).
Carterton 24 (B. Heming, L. Jones tries; M. Coka 1 penalty, 1 conversion; D. Brown 3 penalties); Pioneer 14 (D. Kamo-Paku and J. Thompson tries; T. Haira 2 conversions).
Eketahuna 26 ( R. Temani, B. Traill and C. Algie tries; B. Maher 3 penalties and 1 conversion); Gladstone 25 ( I. Katia, C. Hayton and G. Wood 2 tries; Wood 1 conversion and 1 penalty).
Martinborough beat Bush Sports by default.
Points: Martinborough 16, Greytown 13, Gladstone 11, East Coast 10, Pioneer 9, Eketahuna 8, Carterton 6 and Bush Sports 3.