A win is a win!

There is an old saying in sport that good teams are those who can play badly and still win.
Well, Wairarapa-Bush will be hoping that adage rings true for them after their thoroughly unconvincing 31-18 win over West Coast in their Heartland championship rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
This was a poor Wairarapa-Bush performance by any standards.
Up against a Coast side which had been humbled by 60 points by North Otago the week before and which, quite frankly , didn't have a lot to offer in terms of attacking expertise the home side should have won by a country mile.
But from the time wing Junior Togia bumbled a pass in just the fifth minute of play, with the tryline at his mercy, Wairarapa-Bush struggled to get any fluency or structure into their game.
They did, however, still manage to open the scoring with a Patrick Rimene penalty and extend their advantage to 8-0 when wing Francis Seumanutata scored after an attack which swept all of 60 metres and saw a series of passes actually stick.
Another Rimene penalty made it 11-0 to the home team, and a certain try was "bombed" when a forward pass was offered to Seumanutata with the line open.
That was the extent of the Wairarapa-Bush scoring in the first half with West Coast capitalising on their many passing and handling errors and making it to the interval with a 15-11 lead.
A penalty by first-five Corey Simpson broke their "duck" and then some poor defensive work by Wairarapa-Bush allowed lock Lomiga Vaaelua to crash over for the try.
The home team should have had more points soon after when, after a Simanu Simanu break, Seumanata only had to take a straight forward pass to score the try and somehow managed to spill the catch.
Doubtless West Coast couldn't believe their luck, and they made the most of it on the scoreboard too. Wairarapa-Bush failed to clear messy ball from a scrum and the Coasters pounced, snaffling possession and sending second-five Dan Kemo in for the try which Simpson converted.
It was West Coast too who started the scoring action in the second spell too, Simpson banging over an early penalty to give them an 18-11 lead. And the Wairarapa-Bush woes continued, with Seumanutata going close to scoring, but lacking support when it was needed most, and Rimene failing with a couple of penalty attempts.
Rimene did though bring Wairarapa-Bush closer with a penalty from in front and 35m out, and he repeated the effort a little later to make it a one point ball game, 17-18.
Going into the last 20 minutes it was obvious that while Wairarapa-Bush were still bumbling and fumbling their way around the park they did have the edge on West Coast in fitness, and that was to pay big dividends in the end.
Midfield backs Nathan Couch and Simanu Simanu provided the initial thrust in an attack, which finished with replacement prop Albertus Buckle diving for the try.
Rimene's sideline conversion saw Wairarapa-Bush lead 24-18 and they sealed victory when after a Junior Togia break, flanker Sylvanus Iro scored and Rimene converted. Wairarapa-Bush 31, West Coast 18.
To say Wairarapa-Bush were flattered by their winning margin would be the understatement of the year.
As mentioned previously West Coast weren't exactly a dynamic attacking unit, but they did play with determination and enthusiasm and would have had the two leading candidates for any player of the match award, hard tackling flanker Ofa Misa and big punting first-five Corey Simpson.
By far the most disconcerting aspect of the Wairarapa-Bush performance was their lack of structure in attacking play, especially in the backs where wild passes were often thrown and wrong options taken.The clearances from the scrums, rucks and mauls were not as quick and accurate as they should have been either.
And there were too many lapses on defence with players tending to try and run themselves out of trouble (and finding it!) rather than simply kicking for touch and starting again.
About the only two plusses in back play in fact were the assertiveness of midfielders Nathan Couch and Simanu Simanu with ball in hand, and the ability of winger Junior Togia to usually evade a couple of tackles before his progress was stopped.
The Wairarapa-Bush forwards struggled to get any form of consistency into their play as well. There were times when both the lineout and scrum work was efficient, but others when they struggled to get parity with their opposition. Losing three lineouts in a row on their own throw in the second half was a particular source of concern.
Seldom too did the Wairarapa-Bush pack utilise their mobility and ball handling skills to telling effect in broken play, with attacks launched from there usually falling down after just a couple of passes had been made.
The messy nature of the game did though give the Wairarapa-Bush loosies the chance to get into the action on a regular basis and both flankers, Sylvanus Iro and Sam Henderson were good value with their harassing of the opposing inside backs and speed to the breakdowns.
The Wairarapa-Bush B's made short work of Wellington Maoris under-23s in their curtain-raiser match, the home side winning by 47-0. Hard-running midfielder Phil Aporo and wing Rex Rimene were the pick of the Wairarapa-Bush backs and Angus McMillan and Matt Cox had strong games up front.