Wairarapa-Bush crush Coasters

The ineptness of their opposition makes it difficult to evaluate the true worth of Wairarapa-Bush's crushing 46-0 win over West Coast in their Heartland championship rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
So dreadful were West Coast, in fact, that the first question of most people's lips at the game's end was whether the final scoreline more mirrored their inadequacies than the skill and endeavour of the home side.
Agreed, that may seem rather a harsh judgement on the locals considering they ran in seven unanswered tries but, on reflection, Wairarapa-Bush could have won by 60 and the same question would still have been asked.
This was a West Coast side far removed from those who had actually given Wairarapa-Bush two beatings in their previous four meetings.
Rather they looked every inch what they currently are, the lowest ranked provincial side in the whole of the country.
On this effort they won't change any time soon.
From the time they spilled a ball in the opening minute and gifted Wairarapa-Bush fullback Heemi Tupaea with a try which John Dodd converted the Coasters struggled to get any continuity into their game.
Their first half, in particular, was an absolute shambles with possession regularly being turned over through poor handling and passing skills and a lack of structure on defence often leaving gaping holes for Wairarapa-Bush to exploit.
Which, to their credit, they did on numerous occasions, scoring four tries and coming close to at least that many again.
So inadequate were West Coast, in fact, that going into the second 40 minutes the biggest danger for Wairarapa-Bush was not falling into the trap of lowering their own standards to match that of their opponents.
Unfortunately, however, that did happen and consequently their 29-0 halftime lead was not increased until the last quarter when a combination of them picking up their own effort and West Coast slowing almost to a standstill saw them run in three further tries and advance to within four points of the half-century mark.
The big positive out of the game for Wairarapa-Bush was that it got the monkey of defeat off their backs.
With six losses in pre-season hit-outs there was always the worry that even a team as lowly ranked as West Coast could pose a threat to them and it's fair to say a victory of such proportions was clearly unexpected.
Indeed their were many in the good-sized home crowd who admitted they had taken the generous odds offered by the TAB on the home side winning by 12 points or less.
So poor were West Coast though that to judge this winning effort by Wairarapa-Bush as a hugely positive sign for future Heartland matches would be going a bit far.
The opposition can only get tougher, that's for certain.
That said, there were enough encouraging signs to suggest that those who saw Wairarapa-Bush struggling to make the Meads Cup playoffs this season may have to rethink that assessment to some degree.
Up front there was a lot to like about the stability of the lineout play with Daniel Griffin and Tomasi Kedarabuka taking full advantage of the accurate throwing of hooker Joe Harwood but it was a mixture of good and indifferent in the scrums where West Coast had them on the back pedal at times.
It was a similar situation in the rucks and mauls with the unity of the Wairarapa-Bush pack often seeing them turning over ball and making good metreage there during the first half but a tendency to work as individuals lessening their effectiveness after halftime.
They were also guilty of turning over ball themselves in this facet of the game, and in the tackle situation for that matter.
The ability of skipper Mike Spence to get himself over the advantage line was always obvious whenever he had ball in hand and other forwards like Griffin, Kedarabuka , Steve Olds and Josh Mackey were also prominent in surging bursts from broken play.
Clearly the pick of the Wairarapa-Bush backs was centre Simanu Simanu, who was playing his 50th game for the union. He relished the tentativeness of the West Coast defence, accelerating through gaps on a regular basis and linking well with his supports.
Much interest centred on the effort of Manawatu "import" John Dodd at first-five and he did not disappoint, choosing his options astutely and generally finding space with his tactical kicks.
The experience of Hamish McKenzie at halfback for Wairarapa-Bush was always evident and when youngster Mike Hollis replaced him in that position during the second spell he livened things up with his hustle and bustle.
And speaking of promising youngsters wing Jordan Fox also rates in that category with his try late in the second half illustrating his potential.
It came after a 50m dash and the fending off of two would-be defenders.
Heemi Tupaea, Lance Stevenson, Dan Griffin, Simanu Simanu (2), Jon Guillard and Jordan Fox scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush with John Dodd kicking one penalty and three conversions and Simanu Simanu one conversion.
Wairarapa-Bush travel to Paeroa next Saturday to play Thames Valley who beat Mid-Canterbury in their opening game of the Heartland championship.