Frustration reigns with loss of home advantage

UNHAPPY: Mark Rutene was frustrated by mistakes.

Peeved off at their 23-15 loss to Thames Valley in their match at Paeroa on Saturday, the Wairarapa-Bush Heartland Championship rugby squad were up early yesterday morning for a 45-minute team run before catching the bus home.

Needing just two points from the last of their preliminary round matches to qualify no worse than second for the Meads Cup semis and earn themselves home advantage there as a consequence, Wairarapa-Bush tripped up with a below-par performance, hence the unscheduled training run which head coach Mark Rutene said was called to "iron out a few faults and get the heads back in the right space".

The Paeroa result means Wairarapa-Bush fell back to third on the Heartland points table at the end of the preliminary series which encompassed eight matches and their Meads Cup semi against North Otago will now be played at the latter's headquarters in Oamaru rather than our own Memorial Park. The other semi will also be staged in the South Island, with top qualifiers Mid-Canterbury taking on fourth-placed West Coast in Ashburton.

Rutene was making no excuses for the defeat by Thames Valley in a match dominated by the boot, the home team landing six penalties through Dave Harrison and Wairarapa-Bush five penalties through Glen Walters, an effort which took his Heartland tally for 2013 past the century mark. He now sits on 103pts.The only try of the game was scored by Thames Valley's Kieran Ramage.

"Thames Valley weren't any great shakes, it was just that we were so poor," Rutene said. "We just couldn't seem to get anything going, there was no rhythm there at all."

Wairarapa-Bush had the wintry weather at their backs in the first spell and led 9-3 at the interval, an advantage which always looked too slender because of the strength of the wind. And so it proved with Thames Valley pinning them deep in their own territory for most of the second half and keeping the scoreboard ticking over as well.

For coach Rutene the most frustrating aspect of the Wairarapa-Bush effort was their inability to move the ball through more than two or three phases before losing possession through poor handling or inadequate protection of the ball carrier.

"We just couldn't get any go-forward, we'd just start getting some momentum up and we'd turn the ball over. Sure, their defence was pretty good but we made it easy for them, we just kept doing the simple things badly."

Front rowers Richard Puddy, Finnbarr Kerr-Newell and Jonathan Fuimaono and loosies Johnie McFadzean and Ben Periera were the pick of a Wairarapa-Bush pack which lacked the fire seen from them in most of their previous games while none of the backs could be said to have enhanced their reputations, apart from Walters in the goal-kicking department.

Usual skipper Johan Van Vliet was missing from Saturday's game because of a sprained ankle suffered in the previous match against East Coast but he will be available for selection for the semi, as will another player who has been battling injury hassles, midfield back Titapu Pairama-Lewington.

Beating North Otago in Oamaru is never easy but Wairarapa-Bush do have the confidence of knowing they have already achieved that distinction this season, having won a hard-fought preliminary round match there 20-18.

Coach Rutene is "absolutely sure" they will be able to put the frustrations of the Paeroa result behind them and produce a top-notch performance in a game which could earn them home advantage for the Meads Cup grand final, something which would occur if they beat North Otago and West Coast upset Mid-Canterbury.

Heartland results on Saturday were: Thames Valley 23, Wairarapa-Bush 15; Mid-Canterbury 31, Buller 13; North Otago 27, Horowhenua-Kapiti 22; West Coast 25, Wanganui 24; South Canterbury 47, East Coast 36; Poverty Bay 19, King Country 18.

Competition points at the end of the preliminary rounds: Mid-Canterbury 33, North Otago 29, Wairarapa-Bush 28, West Coast 28, South Canterbury 23, Wanganui 21, Buller 20, Thames Valley 17, King Country 15, East Coast 11, Horowhenua-Kapiti 10, Poverty Bay 6.