Bush squeeze into semis

Wairarapa-Bush lost all three of their preliminary round matches in the Lochore Cup section of the Heartland champions rugby competition but they have still squeaked into the semifinals.
After going into the Lochore Cup as the top qualifiers, Wairarapa-Bush lost in successive weekends to West Coast, Horowhenua-Kapiti and King Country, and ordinarily would have dropped back to fifth place as a consequence.
However, they have been saved the embarrassment of not making the semis by West Coast being fined $2500 and stripped of five competition points for fielding an ineligible player during their 35-30 win over Wairarapa-Bush on October 2.
An NZRFU statement says the special sub-committee hearing the complaint heard West Coast had knowingly breached the regulations by fielding an ineligible player under another player's name. It said the regulations were fundamental to the integrity of the competition and that a monetary fine and loss of points were the appropriate penalty.
The loss of the five points left West Coast sitting fourth-equal with Buller on the Lochore Cup points table leading into the last of their preliminary round matches against them on Saturday.
Going into the game they both had nine points compared with Wairarapa-Bush's 10 and when Buller beat West Coast 20-11 the Coasters were relegated to a clear fifth, one point behind Wairarapa-Bush, who also failed to pick up any competition points in their 43-22 loss to King Country at Memorial Park.
Wairarapa-Bush will square off against King Country again in the Lochore Cup semis this Saturday, although this time King Country will have the home advantage. In the other semi, Horowhenua-Kapiti will host Buller.
Meanwhile, Wairarapa-Bush coach Kelvin Tantrum is confident his side can push King Country to the limits in their semifinal encounter, even allowing for the 21-point loss suffered in their preliminary round clash.
Tantrum was pleased with most aspects of his team's play in that match with the one exception, the lack of urgency in their midfield defence.
"We didn't mark up closely enough and gave their backs too much time and room to get into top gear ... and when you have the sort of pace they do out wide that's just asking for trouble," he said. "We have to be more urgent defensively, a lot more urgent."
Tantrum was encouraged though by the regular supply of quality possession won by the Wairarapa-Bush forwards and believes they have even more to offer in that respect.
"There's no better way to restrict opposition than denying them the ball and our forwards have the capability to do just that," he said. "They need to have a huge influence on the game and I think they will."