Wairarapa-Bush maintained their place at the top of the 2012 Heartland rugby championship table when they literally slogged their way to a 12-8 win over West Coast in Greymouth on Saturday.
Eight days of rain guaranteed a heavy surface and the thunder, lightning and strong winds which accompanied the rain on match day had officials considering postponing the game.
In such conditions all thoughts of Wairarapa-Bush playing their usual expansive style of rugby went out the window, the coaching staff giving them the message to either kick for territory or rely on the forwards to punch holes in the defence through short-passing rushes.
"It was always going to be a hard slog, you were just asking for trouble if you tried to give the ball width. It was just so slippery and hard to hang on to," Wairarapa-Bush head coach Mark Rutene said.
The awful conditions did not detract from the excitement of a match which Wairarapa-Bush led 6-5 at halftime and 9-8 going into the last quarter.
"There were times when they certainly had us under the pump, especially in the first half," Rutene said. "They were every bit as rugged as we expected them to be."
All Wairarapa-Bush's points came from the boot of fullback Glen Walters, whose four penalty goals meant the former Kuranui College first XV player has racked up 52 points in Heartland fixtures this season.
The closest Wairarapa-Bush came to scoring a try was in the closing stages when flanker Johan Van Vliet appeared to have forced his way over, but the referee was unconvinced.
For the Wairarapa-Bush forwards this was a true test of their physicality and they came through with flying colours. In no area were they more dominant than in the scrums, especially in the last 20 minutes.
Prop Wilba Davies was an outstanding performer in the tighter exchanges, with the two hookers used, Richard Puddy and Jamie Hunt, and lock Brandon Young, who came back from a lengthy injury break and saw out the full 80 minutes. He used his strength to telling effect in the mauls.
Another of the front rowers, Kurt Simmonds, also made a strong contribution when he joined the action in the second half and Tom Fleming's lineout skills and high work rate were valuable commodities as well.
For the Wairarapa-Bush backs this was a game where they were always going to play second fiddle to their forwards.
Halfback Inia Katia did, however, still manage to make the odd electrifying break and, of course, the accuracy of the Walters boot continued to be a major plus.
With three successive Heartland wins behind them, Wairarapa-Bush will have a positive mindset leading into this Saturday's fixture at Memorial Park with the team who are equal with them at the top of the points table, Meads Cup favourites Wanganui.
They both have 13 points, followed by South Canterbury and North Otago 10, East Coast 8, King Country and West Coast 7, Buller 6, Mid-Canterbury, Thames Valley and Poverty Bay 5 and Horowhenua-Kapiti 0.
The huge threat posed by Wanganui is evidenced by their 42-3 thumping of Poverty Bay on Saturday while in other Heartland matches East Coast beat Buller 20-18, South Canterbury beat Thames Valley 42-37, King Country beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 32-10 and Mid-Canterbury upset North Otago 7-3.
Wairarapa-Bush have five preliminary round games to play. Their next two matches, against Wanganui and Mid-Canterbury, are at home and then follow King Country at Taupo, North Otago at Masterton and Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin.
The top four teams at the end of the preliminary round go through to the Meads Cup semis and the next four to the Lochore Cup semis.