Up front, two of the big men, lock Rangi Wolland, and No8 Brandon Young starred in several rampaging bursts and invariably right on their shoulders was captain and hooker Jake Tipene.
The trio also made a big impact in lineout play, Tipene's accurate throwing well matched by the flawless handling of Wolland and Young.
The Bush Sports backs were often set alight by lively halfback Jordan Bennett-Davies with Etuale Feo making numerous breaks in midfield.
The second half, however, was a far different story.
Whatever coach Steve Hurley said to his Carterton side at the break seemed to work wonders. They played with more structure and commitment in the second period and had Bush Sports on the back foot.
They managed to represent their dominance on the scoreboard too, scoring the next 19 points without reply.
The McFadzean brothers were huge value for Carterton, John at No8 and Lachie at lock.
They were their side's main "go to" men at lineout time as well as being their most lethal attackers in broken play.
Hooker Jamie Folan and loosie Jacko Hull were other Carterton forwards to shine, while Justin Lett made a huge difference to the confidence and direction of the back play when he came off the bench into halfback.
Impressive for Carterton off limited opportunities were midfielder Tui Vatuloka and fullback Inoke Rasabale.
Rasabale's tricky footwork saw him make a number of impressive line breaks but they failed to do sufficient damage as Bush held on for the win.
Results of other premier division games on Saturday were generally as expected, although Pioneer's 52-27 beating of Gladstone was probably more decisive than most would have predicted.
Martinborough beat Eketahuna 22-15, East Coast beat Greytown 18-13 and Puketoi accounted for Marist 34-19.
