Cool Karaitiana puts the boot in for kicks

Wairarapa- Bush moved to second place in pool A of the Heartland rugby championship with their convincing 33-12 win over East Coast at Ruatoria on Saturday but a place in the Meads Cup playoffs is still far from certain.
Currently just four points separate five of the pool A six sides with Wanganui leading the way on 11, Wairarapa-Bush and Horowhenua-Kapiti on 9, West Coast on 8 and Buller on 7. East Coast have still to break their "duck".
Interestingly enough Wanganui, Wairarapa-Bush, Horowhenua-Kapiti and West Coast all have the same win-loss record of two wins and one loss but whereas Wanganui have picked up bonus points in each of their games the other three have managed just the one.
What this means for Wairarapa-Bush then is that to ensure themselves a Meads Cup spot by finishing the top three teams in their pool they will very probably have to win both of their last two games, against Horowhenua-Kapiti in Levin next Saturday and Buller in Masterton on September 26.
It was the goal kicking of first five Byron Karaitiana which paved the way for Wairarapa-Bush's decisive victory in Ruatoria.
The home team would have still been giving themselves the chance of an upset win when they trailed by just 10-3 at halftime but the first 12 minutes of the second half put Wairarapa-Bush in a commanding position.
In that short space of time Karaitiana landed three penalty goals and from there on it was pretty much a case of just how much Wairarapa-Bush would win by.
In the end they scored three tries- frustratingly one short of a bonus point- through Junior Togia, Sam Mitchell and Sili Tugaga with Karaitiana finished with a personal tally of 18 points with his four penalties and three conversions.
As they have done throughout their Heartland campaign to date East Coast competed strongly in the first half, particularly in the set pieces, but tended to run out of steam in the second and, like Wanganui and Buller before them, Wairarapa-Bush were quick to capitalise.
Spring heeled lock Tomasi Kedrabuka marked his return to the Wairarapa-Bush side by playing a dominant role in the lineouts and also impressed with his mobility around the paddock, both on attack and defence. No.8 Nathan Rolls had a similarly effective all-round effort, starring in several surging bursts with ball in hand.
Karaitiana's kicking, both for goal and in general play, made him the pick of the Wairarapa-Bush backs although halfback Nick Risdon was again impressive with the speed of his passing and the soundness of his option taking.
Wairarapa-Bush B rugby coach Stacey Grant was not too enthused over his team's RDO Cup 19-12 win over the Wellington Maori development squad at Memorial Park on Saturday. Grant labelled his team as "very flat" in a scoreless first half and while they picked up their effort in the second spell to score three tries a late rally by the Maori development squad made it closer than it should have been.
One encouraging aspect for the B's, however, was the impact made by usual winger Rupene Temani at flanker.He created a number of turnovers as did the hard working John Stevenson.The pick of the backs were wingers Keiran Te Whare and Rex Rimene and second-five Jason Kjestrup. Te Whare(2) and Stevenson scored tries for Waikrarapa-Bush and Kjestrup kicked two conversions.
The Wairarapa-Bush under-20s were beaten 29-19 by their Horowhenua-Kapiti counterparts in the Memorial Park curtain-raiser after trailing 22-7 at halftime. Loosehead prop Lance Graves was about the only standout in an ordinary Wairarapa-Bush performance.