Bush lacklustre in home win

Wairarapa-Bush recorded an unconvincing 33-14 victory over East Coast in the Heartland championship game at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.
Played in a swirling wind and in front of a disappointingly sparse crowd, East Coast were first out of the blocks and after a succession of phases burly prop Norman Hauiti landed a wobbling drop goal to give the visitors an early lead, Hauiti's clenched fist pumping the air signalling his delight - and probably surprise.
The Wairarapa-Bush response was both immediate and encouraging. Straight from the restart the home team gathered the ball and, following an exchange of passes, finished with skipper Joe Harwood diving over in the corner. Jeremy Te Huia missed the conversion from wide out.
Wairarapa-Bush began to gain the ascendancy but good work around the paddock was being marred too often by infringements at the rucks and mauls.
From one of these mistakes, East Coast first-five Nathan Langsford slotted the penalty to hand back the Coasters the lead 6-5 after 10 minutes.
The home team continued to take the game to East Coast though and their dominance was rewarded with further tries to No8 Mana Faraimo, who barged over from a maul close to the line followed five minutes later when Jeremy Te Huia burst through weak Coast defence in the centre of the park to dot the ball down close to the uprights. Te Huia added the extras to give Wairarapa-Bush a 19-6 advantage.
Faraimo added a second try to his own tally straight from the restart, this time a strong individual effort where he shrugged off some would-be East Coast tacklers to crash over the line. Again Te Huia obliged with the conversion to see Wairarapa-Bush out to a 26-6 lead with only 22 minutes showing on the clock.
The home side was on a roll, scoring at better than a point a minute, and were running the ball at almost every opportunity. The positive approach reaped further dividends just before the break when Tommy Sargent burst through and, despite a last-minute attempt to bring him down, managed to juggle the ball over the line. Te Huia landed his fourth conversion from a handy angle.
Langsford added a further penalty to the East Coast tally on the stroke of half time after another Wairarapa-Bush infringement around the ruck to leave the halftime score standing at 33-9. For the home side the halftime whistle was possibly one they didn't want to hear - they were in the ascendant and had already bagged the vital bonus point for scoring four tries.
However, if coach Kelvin Tantrum had asked for "more of the same" during the half-time break in the dressing room then it appeared his players weren't paying attention because the second half turned out to be a different proposition altogether for Wairarapa-Bush.
The home side found themselves on the back foot directly from the restart with the Coasters belying their cellar dwellers status in the Heartlands competition, putting on a spirited display of forward play, denying the home side possession and rumbling the ball up willingly through the safe hands of props Hauiti and Tom Kahukiwa aided by hooker Patrick McLean.
The Wairarapa-Bush tackle count was rising rapidly but in the main first-up tackles were being made and, despite the amount of possession, the Coast found it hard to penetrate the home side defence, not helped by an apparent lack of real pace in the side.
It didn't take long for the East Coast pressure to pay dividends though, when some hesitant Wairarapa defence allowed fullback Verdon Bartlett to toe the ball ahead and dot down for a disappointingly simple try. Langsford failed to convert despite the comfortable angle, leaving the score 33-14 but the momentum of the game had passed to the visitors.
This shift in momentum continued alongside Wairarapa-Bush's lack of possession, together with their inability to get out of their own half for any length of time. Some careless turning over of the ball only added to the home side's frustrations, again resulting in too many penalties conceded.
Midway through the half referee Jackson pulled flanker Tommy Sargent aside for a word, possibly about repeatedly infringing at the breakdown. If that was the case, coach Tantrum heeded the warning signs and replaced Sargent with Rupeni Tamani almost immediately.
Infringements apart, Sargent had played an important part in the Wairarapa-Bush effort, invariably being the first to the break down to retrieve the ball alongside fellow flanker Josh Tua-Davidson and also for his strong tackling.
As the half wore on, coach Tantrum turned increasing to his bench in the hope that fresh legs would help regain the initiative.
Of the players to come off the bench, lock Dan Griffin made the biggest impact, s making valuable metres in broken play.
Hooker Richard Puddy had a strong game up to the time he was replaced, breaking the advantage line on several occasions with determined running and excellent support play. James Bruce gave his back line good service, locks Brandon Young and Andrew McLean were secure at set plays and showed their mobility around the paddock while Josh Tua-Davidson turned on a typical hard working display in the loose.
For East Coast, the tireless work of the tight forwards, and nippy halfback Charlie Harrison stood out.
The final 33-14 scoreline kept Wairarapa-Bush's hopes of making the Meads Cup remotely alive. However, some serious work lies ahead before the arrival of North Otago next weekend.