Appeal leaves doubt on cup winner

The fate of the Chris Kapene Memorial Cup, which goes to the leading team at the end of one complete round of matches in the Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby competition, won't be known until Thursday of next week.
It is then that a three-man panel is due to hear an appeal from Marist over a council of clubs sub-committee decision to relieve them of the 14 competition points earned from wins over Puketoi (48-6), Eketahuna (29-19) and Masterton Red Star (8-0) in the their opening three games of the 2010 season.
That decision was made after the East Coast and Eketahuna clubs filed an official complaint that one of the Marist players in those games had not been officially transferred from his former club, East Coast. The sub-committee ruled that not only would Marist have the 14 competition points (which includes two bonus points for scoring four or more tries) taken from them but that the losing teams in each of the matches would be declared winners, thereby increasing their points tally by four in each case.
Council of clubs chairman Fergus Rutherford said yesterday that until Marist's appeal was heard the status quo remained as to the points table.
That has Marist in front on 36 points after their nine games, followed by Masterton Red Star and Carterton on 31, Eketahuna 30, East Coast 24, Martinborough 20, Gladstone 20, Greytown 12, Puketoi 8 and Eketahuna 0.
But if Marist's appeal fails and the penalties imposed earlier are reinforced then the Kapene Memorial Cup will go to Masterton Red Star, who will be on 35 points. Eketahuna will move to second with 34 points with Carterton (31) and East Coast (28) following. Marist would drop to 22 points and fifth place overall.