Featherston falls at the final hurdle

A three-month struggle ended when Featherston withdrew from this season's Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition last Friday, just one day before the opening round of matches was due to kick off.
It had been that long since the club had determined to come out of a three-year absence from the premier grade but despite their best efforts they basically fell at the last hurdle.
Featherston stalwart Eru Kaiwai had been appointed coach of the club's first division side and he said it was the poor attendances at training sessions last Tuesday and Thursday which were the final nail in the coffin.
Just five players interested in competing at first division level had turned up on the Tuesday and they had been joined by four more on the Thursday.
And so there was little alternative but to advise the Wairarapa-Bush union that they would not be able to field a side to play Marist at Featherston on Saturday and that they were withdrawing from the entire competition.
Kaiwai said he was "gutted but relieved" at that decision, gutted because a number of players who had indicated they were prepared to play at first division level had not in fact made that commitment and relieved because it meant the end of the sleepness nights worrying about whether the club would have sufficient players to field a competitive side.
"If everybody who said they were going to play for us a few weeks ago had turned up then we would have had a team no problem," he said. "But the closer we got to the start of the season the more it became clear that we weren't looking too good numbers-wise."
Featherston's withdrawal reduced the number of teams in the first division series from 11 to 10 which means the bye has been eliminated.
However, the season's draw had already been done with the bye included and WRFU chief executive Phil Taylor said decisions would have to be made by the council of clubs early this week as to whether a complete redraw would be done and what points Marist and Martinborough would earn from the first round, Marist having been drawn to play Featherston and Martinborough having the bye.