Top seeds sneak in

Top seeds Eketahuna and Gladstone are through to the grand final of the Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition, but not without creating some heart flutters for their supporters.
Eketahuna scored a converted try in the last minute of play to edge out Greytown-Tuhirangi 12-11 in their semi-final match at Eketahuna on Saturday while Gladstone kicked a penalty in extra time to beat Marist 13-10 in their semi at Gladstone.
Even though there was only a solitary point between the two sides it could still be said that Eketahuna was flattered by their winning margin.
They had the better of exchanges in the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes with the remaining 60 minutes seeing a charged-up Greytown-Tuhirangi calling the tune, and establishing a seemingly unassailable 11-0 lead in the process.
But Eketahuna haven't won the last two premierships for nothing and like any champion side could be expected to do they the dug the deepest when it counted the most.
Twice they exposed weaknesses in what had previously been a tight-knit Greytown-Tuhirangi defence to score tries, the last of them coming almost on the tick of fulltime and, importantly, being scored right under the sticks, thereby making the crucial conversion a virtual certainty.
The dejected looks on the Greytown-Tuhirangi faces as they trudged from the field said it all..
To be robbed of victory after mounting such a brave challenge was gut-wrenching, but if ever the old clich? of rugby being an 80-minute game was illustrated this was it.
Graphic too was the feeling of absolute relief in the Eketahuna camp. There were no wild scenes of celebration as they made to their way to the changing rooms, with most of their faces having a "how the heck did we get out of that" look on them.
Eketahuna coach Graeme Cheetham freely conceded his team was lucky to come up with the win on the run of play.
"Thank God a game of rugby goes for 80 minutes??.. we were second best for a long way," he said.
The match itself was not, by any means, an entertaining spectacle, if by entertaining you mean free-flowing rugby with the ball constantly being spread wide and the backs being given ample opportunity to show their paces.
The softness of the ground conditions-pugginess might be a better description- ensured that both teams would place the emphasis on forward domination and a strong wind, which favoured Eketahuna in the first half, didn't exactly help matters either.
The battle for superiority up front lacked nothing on the score of physical endeavour with both packs willing to put their bodies on the line in all phases of play.
But to use boxing parlance it would be fair to say that while no knockout punches were delivered the Greytown-Tuhrangi eight would have done enough to earn a points decision.
In No.8 Sylvanus Iro the combined side had the most punishing runner in broken play situations and from the back of the scrum where he often picked the ball up and made good metreage before linking with his supports.He would have been the leading contender for any player of the match award.
Lock Norm Henricksen was the best lineout exponent on the paddock by the proverbial country mile., benefitting as he did from the accurate throwing in difficult conditions of hooker Bruce McKenzie who, apart from being sin binned in the last minute of the game, also made a big impression in an all-round sense.
McKenzie anchored a solid Greytown-Tuihrangi scrum in partnership with props BJ Parker and Dylan Higgison with all three using their strength and guile to telling effect in the rucks and mauls.,a facet of the game in which Alistair Boyne also excelled.
So well did the starting eight for Greytown-Tuihrangi perform, in fact, that it was somewhat surprising that substitutions were made during the course of the second half.
But then again this is something which has become an accepted part of rugby life these days, whether they are actually warranted or not.
Eketahuna's forwards may not have produced one of their best efforts of the season but to their credit they never looked like flying the white flag and were at their best at the most crucial part of proceedings, the final 10 minutes of the game.
Hooker Rob Foreman has been a star act for the Bush-based side all season and he was into everything,making several rampaging bursts and just as many important tackles.
Lock Tim Iro was not quite as influential as brother Sylvanus was for the opposition but still made a good impression with his lineout work and mobility in general play, and if the absence of injured skipper and No.8 Steve Olds was felt in the loose the experience of Dave Smith was always apparent there.
Eketahuna's backs would certainly have preferred a firmer surface to demonstrate their attacking qualities with prolific scorers like centre Simanu Simanu and wing Jorgi Tamani seldom being the given the chance to stretch their legs with space in which to move. Simanu though still managed to make his presence felt through some assertive defensive work, an area in which fullback Daniel Elms was also sound..
At halfback for Eketahuna Hamish McKenzie probably didn't clear the ball as he well as he would have liked but his ability to crack the first line of defence with his sniping runs was always a prime attacking weapon. His scoring of his team's second try would have made him a hero anyway, irrespective of how he had played the previous 89 minutes !
The Greytown-Tuhirangi backs also played their cards fairly close to their chests with their three-quarters hardly ever receiving the ball from set play. First-five Mark Childs was an astute tactician, invariably finding space with his kicks and gaps whenever he chose to run.
His was a classy display and there was a lot to admire too in the tenacity, both on attack and defence, of second-five Kingi Kaiwai.
Dutch international Bart Viguurs came on at fullback for the second half for Greytown-Tuhirangi and saved a certain try with a magnificent covering tackle on
McKenzie, who looked set to capitalise on a break by Foreeman.
Luke Mahony and Hamish McKenzie were the try scorers for Eketahuna and Simanu Simanu kicked a conversion.Tavita Isaac scored a try for Greytown-Tuhirangi with Mark Childs dropping a goal and Bart Viguurs kicking a penalty.
Gladstone and Marist went neck-and-neck in their semi-final match at Gladstone with the two sides being level pegging at 10-10 at the end of ordinary time, and going into 20 minutes of extra time. And it was Gladstone who scored the only points there, first-five John Dodd landing a penalty in the first set of 10 minutes to break the deadlock.
Dodd had earlier scored his team's only points in the first half with a penalty goal and with Patrick Rimene also kicking a penalty they went to the halftime break at 3-3.
A Nathan Couch try converted by Rimene took Marist out to a 10-3 lead in the second spell but Gladstone levelled up when Matt Easton scored a try with about 15 minutes of play remaining and Dodd kicked the conversion from very wide out to make it 10-10.
That kick was greeted with great applause by the army of Gladstone supporters but would have been cause for even more celebration had it been known what was in store a little further down the track.
Marist did have the chance to put their noses in front close to fulltime when they were awarded a penalty from a handy range, but Rimene's kick rebounded off the posts and it was into extra time where Dodd did the business.
It was appropriate that Dodd should be the player to clinch the win for the home side as he had a fine game at first-five, showing good judgement with his option taking and staying calm in pressure situations.
Loose forward Sam Henderson was the other standout individual in a committed Gladstone side , getting through a power of work on attack and defence, especially in the second half.
Marist played their part in what was an enthralling game of rugby, made even enthralling. of course, by the closeness of the scores,
Their forwards measured up well to Gladstone in all departments with both packs winning a reasonable share of quality possession.
The experience of Rimene and Nathan Couch was always evident in back play although the best of their backs was wing Phil Aporo, who proved a hard man to stop whenever the ball came his way
The senior second division semis were both close affairs as well with Carterton beating East Coast 15-10 and Martinborough beating Pioneer 13-12 while the grand finalists in the President's grade are Gladstone and Greytown-Tuhirangi.