A disjointed first-half effort and shoddy defence didn't stop Wairarapa-Bush from thumping Horowhenua-Kapiti 51-17 in their representative rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
In what was their final dress rehearsal before their Heartland championship match against South Canterbury in Masterton next weekend, Wairarapa-Bush did not display anything like the same fluency as they had in their 44-16 defeat of Poverty Bay seven days earlier.
But to rack up more than half-a-century of points against a fellow Heartland side was still an encouraging result for a home team which ran in six tries to their opponent's two.
Fullback cum first-five Glen Walters had an impressive 100 per cent success rate as goal kicker and his six conversions and three penalties gave him a personal tally of 21 points.
It is fair to say, however, that Wairarapa-Bush were flattered by their 16-5 halftime advantage. There would have been precious little between the two sides in terms of territory and possession in that 40 minutes and while Wairarapa-Bush did create the greater number of prime scoring chances, they wasted most of them though basic handling errors.
The first half ended with both teams having scored just the one try, Horowhenua-Kapiti halfback Tainui Brown capitalising on some weak tackling to notch his five-pointer and his Wairarapa-Bush opposite Inia Katia catching the visitors napping with a tap kick from a penalty awarded about 15m from their goal line.
The second spell saw Wairarapa-Bush make several changes to their starting line-up with many of the "first stringers" joining the action and while there were still too many missed tackles, their attacking play was clearly enhanced.
Forwards and backs often combined to break open the Horowhenua-Kapiti defence.
Two of the five second-half tries scored by Wairarapa-Bush were credited to outstanding flanker Johan Van Vliet, who captained the side for the first time after usual leader Kurt Simmonds started on the reserve bench. Typically, Van Vliet was into everything on both attack and defence but, impressive as he was, even he would have been edged out for any player of the day award by No 8 Jim Temoci. He starred in several rampaging bursts and was a gritty defender around the fringes of the scrums and mauls.
Wellington "imports", prop Jon Fuimaono and lock Tom Fleming, both did enough to suggest they will become valuable contributors to the Heartland campaign and hooker Jamie Hunt was lively and productive.
The darting runs of halfback Katia was the feature of a somewhat mixed performance by the Wairarapa-Bush backs in the first half but there was comforting improvement in the second when the likes of Walters, newcomer Titapu Pariama-Lewington, Cameron Hayton and Nick Olson stepped up.
Johan Van Vliet (2), Inia Katia, Cameron Hayton, Andrew McLean and Byron Karaitiana scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush and Glen Walters landed six conversions and three penalties.
Tainui Brown, David Thompson and Michael Tambour scored the Horowhenua tries and Perry Hayman kicked a conversion.
The Wairarapa-Bush v South Canterbury Heartland championship match at Memorial Park next Saturday will kick off at the earlier-than-usual time of 1pm.