Big men cane Red Star

East Coast ran in 10 tries in their 63-14 beating of Masterton Red Star in the Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.
If ever there was a game which proved that size can matter this was it.
Nobody could have questioned the sheer endeavour of a brave Masterton Red Star outfit but they simply didn't have the size or physical capabilities to test an East Coast squad which dominated the ball-winning departments, and consequently had a major advantage in both territory and possession.
One-sided as it was on the scoreboard the match kept a reasonable crowd well enough entertained with East Coast, in particular, keen to play an expansive style of rugby despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions, including a couple of heavy downpours of rain.
There were occasions when the slippery ball led to handling and passing errors but this did not stop some spectacular tries being scored, two of the best of which, strangely enough, went to Masterton Red Star, one to winger Sam Davies and the other to fullback Matt Henderson.
Impressive for East Coast up front were mobile front rowers Ross Thompson and Walter Williams, rugged middle rowers Kane Nooroa and Karim Brown and a couple of lively flankers in Sam Barbour and Joe Feast. The latter shone in the lineouts, with several clean two-handed takes.
The East Coast backs relished the mountain of quality ball which came their way, with young halfback Matt O'Connor setting them alight with his slick, accurate passing and astute option taking. Skipper Sam Mitchell was all cut and thrust in midfield and was good value for his hat-trick of tries and his midfield partner Jess McGilvary was little less effective.
At fullback Nic Olson was his usual dangerous self on the counter-attack, invariably stepping his way past three or four tackles before being halted.
Masterton Red Star's forwards were always going to be facing an uphill battle because of the size factor but they were a gutsy lot, none more so than openside flanker and skipper Chris Senior, who tackled his heart out. No 8 Karl Thompson was another who defended solidly while both Jake Bubb and Tim Grooby generally made decent metreage whenever they had ball in hand.
In Jamie Fraser Masterton Red Star had a first-five who got good distance with his clearing kicks and showed a commendable coolness under pressure and winger Sam Davies displayed some nifty footwork and a handy turn at pace on the few occasions he had the chance to stretch his legs.
Sam Mitchell (3), Jesse McGilvary (2), Richie Cameron, Dan Porter, Kane Nooroa, Joe Feast and Nic Olson scored tries for East Coast, with Porter kicking four conversions and Olson one penalty and one conversion. Sam Davies and Matt Henderson scored the Masterton Red Star tries and Jamie Fraser landed two conversions.
Greg Dennes was responsible for 19 of their points as Martinborough beat Greytown by 34-15. Dennes scored a try and kicked four conversions and two penalties while other try scorers were Te Kani (2) and Eli Telford. Greytown managed three tries through Rhys Lett, T Davies and Hamish Meyrick but had no luck with their kicking.
Carterton were kept honest by Featherston as evidenced by their winning margin of 13-5. Levi Volavolai scored the sole Carterton try and Jono Hurley made the difference between the two sides with his two penalties and one conversion. Tommy Sargent scored a try for Featherston.
Gladstone and Eketahuna met under lights on Friday evening and it was Gladstone who claimed the spoils, scoring four tries to two and winning by 29-13. Michael Vuicikau, John Coffey (2) and Ilia Katia touched down for Gladstone and Bailey added three conversions and a penalty. Brendan Walker and Brandon Young scored the Eketahuna tries and Joe Hull kicked a penalty.
There was better news for Eketahuna though in their Wellington premier division women's match with defending champions Norths on Saturday. Norths have beaten Eketahuna in the last two grand finals but Eketahuna raised hopes it could be third time lucky in 2011 when they came up trumps 34-12 on this occasion.