Tantrum wants another crack as coach

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Kelvin Tantrum wants another crack at the job for next season.
Tantrum confirmed to the Times-Age yesterday he was keen to build further on the progress made in the current Heartland championship campaign, progress which has seen Wairarapa-Bush qualify for the premier section, the Meads Cup.
That represents a substantial improvement on last year when they were beaten semi-finalists in the B section, the Lochore Cup, and ended up with an overall seeding of ninth.
Almost 12 months later they can do no worse than sixth and do, in fact, retain a mathematical chance of making the Meads Cup semis if they secure the maximum five points in the last of the preliminary round fixtures against Mid-Canterbury in Masterton this coming Saturday.
A scenario which contradicts a comment made after their 34-28 loss to South Canterbury in their most recent fixture when competition tables initially showed Wairarapa-Bush having 16 points instead of the correct tally of 17.
That extra point means Wairarapa-Bush trail fourth placed Horowhenua-Kapiti by two points and fifth placed South Canterbury by one and if those two teams draw their match at Levin this weekend and pick up no bonus points along the way Wairarapa-Bush could leapfrog them both...... providing of course they have their five points in the bag.
Irrespective of whether they make the semis or not, however, Tantrum has justifiably been encouraged by the positive headway Wairarapa-Bush have made through their latest Heartland programme.
In each and every match they have either won or earned themselves a bonus point for losing by seven or less points and only once, against South Canterbury, have they "really disappointed" Tantrum with their performance.
And even then they had a good first 40 minutes when they racked up all 28 of their points, including four tries.
For Tantrum though their poor option taking and tentative defence in the second half undermined what had gone on beforehand. "Rugby is played over 80 minutes and we had a poor 40, we have to be honest about that," he said. "We should have won and we didn't, excuses don't come into it.".
Tantrum is convinced though that this season's improvement is a forerunner of better things to come.He has been impressed by the way the many youngsters in his squad have competed at the higher level and says the experience gained this year should serve them well in future seasons.
"You have to be encouraged by the way these players have developed, both on and off the field," he said. "There is a lot of raw talent there and it's exciting to think where they might get to in another season or two".
Tantrum is anticipating a Mid-Canterbury team probably needing a win to guarantee themselves a home semi-final to be firing on all cylinders in their forthcoming Memorial Park clash but he says Wairarapa-Bush will be equally as keen to make their last home game of the 2009 season something to remember"We want a win, anything less won't be good enough."
There will at least be one change to the Wairarapa-Bush starting line-up from that which initially took the field against South Canterbury. No.8 Duncan Law had yet another recurrence of his hamstring injury there and his name will play no part in the selection process.