Forwards stand out despite loss to Wanganui B

Locks Norm Henricksen and Tim Fleming had strong games for the Wairarapa-Bush B rugby side in their 20-15 loss to their Wanganui counterparts at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday
Not only did Henricksen and Fleming shine in their specialist department, the lineouts, but they also had a high workrate in the rucks and mauls and were never far from the centre of action in broken play situations.
Two other Wairarapa-Bush forwards to take the eye were prop Darren Walker and flanker Tom Sargent, Walker for his solid scrummaging and hard graft in the tighter exchanges and Sargent for his speed to the breakdowns and his impressive tackle count.
Wairarapa-Bush also benefited from the assertiveness in midfield of experienced campaigners Steve Ods at second-five and Glen Bunny at centre. They made their presence felt on attack and defence although Bunny did have a spell off the paddock in the sin bin after justfiably becoming upset when headbutted by a Wnganui opponent.
And to make matters worse the Wanganui player sent to the sin bin at the same time as Bunny was not, in fact, the guilty party.
Coach Steve Thompson was "happy enough" with the Wairarapa-Bush effort but bemoaned the conceding of numerous penalties in the second spell after they had clearly had the better of the opening 40 minutes.
"The penalties slowed the momentum down and we struggled to get going again," Thompson said."We did come back well late in the game but it was too late then."
The Wairarapa-Bush under-18s went down 22-17 to their Wanganui counterparts in the main curtain-raiser at Memorial Park on Saturday.
All of Wairarapa-Bush's points were scored by second-five Jeremy Anderson, who scored a try and kicked three penaty goals.
Standouts up front for Wairarapa-Bush were backs Jason Gillies and Nick Olsen and high leaping lineout jumper Alistair Potts.
Wairarapa-Bush coach Deon van Deventer was pleased with his team's first half effort but conceded the final scoreline was probably a fair enough reflection of the two sides.
An impressive second half effort highlighted the Wairarapa-Bush under-16s performance against Manawatu under-16s in a match also played at Memorial Park on Saturday.
The slick Manawatu side ran up 26 unanswered points in the first half but were actually outscored by a brave Wairarapa-Bush in the second spell.
Wairarapa-Bush coach Sean Blenkin said his team had just one week to prepare for the match and, consequently, struggled to get their combinations working early in the game.
"Individually there were really good efforts but we took a while to gel as a team and that was the difference between the two sides," he said. "And we were a bit shell-shocked early on too??..they (Manawatu) put us under a lot of pressure and we took a while to become adjusted to it."