Gladstone hit back

Defending Tui Cup champions Gladstone are back on track in the Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby competition.

A slow start to the 2012 season had some pundits questioning whether they could repeat their feats of last year but their seven-try 43-8 romp over Marist at Memorial Park on Saturday suggested they will be right in the fight when the major spoils are up for grabs.

Not that their latest victory was by any means vintage Gladstone. Coach Steve Thompson is a hard taskmaster and he would not have been altogether happy with the number of attacking movements which came to an abrupt end through basic handling and passing errors.

And no doubt Thompson will also have something to say about the manner in which a struggling Marist side were able to achieve a level of ascendancy over the Gladstone forwards for periods in both spells, especially the first 15 minutes of the second.

At the same time, however, there was clearly enough in this Gladstone effort to give Thompson and his assistant coach Dave McGillicuddy the comfort of knowing their side is, at least, heading in the right direction.

The move to No8 of regular Wairarapa-Bush lock Andrew McLean paid rich dividends. He was his usual consistent self at lineout time but what impressed most about his performance was the many storming runs he made from the back of the scrums and in broken play.

Lively flanker Sean Loader was another Gladstone loosie to impress and both Lance Graves and William Patrick were tireless workers in the tighter exchanges.

The Gladstone backline was sparked by the brilliance of Inia Katia at halfback.

He was always looking for the opportunity to run the ball back at the opposition and with a mix of clever footwork and sheer speed he invariably pierced the first line of defence - and often the second and third.

Outside Katia, big punting first-five John Bailey generally chose his options soundly and Cameron Hayton was all power and thrust at centre, scoring three tries and "gifting" another to winger Rodney Kjestrup when he was over the goal line and in a position to score No4 himself.

It wasn't all bad news for Marist who were actually more competitive than the final scoreline would suggest.

Up front they had one of the more assertive broken play runners on the paddock in hooker Cam Waru, while Kieran O'Brien, Daniel Miller and Wais Tokikiviko all toiled away bravely.

The Marist backline functioned best when the experienced Russell Thompson joined the fray in the second half and used his tactical nous to good effect.

Other premier division matches saw Bush Sports maintain their unbeaten run with a 37-19 win over Greytown, as did Pioneer with a hard-fought 15-10 success over Martinborough.

Rams notched their first win of the season with an 8-6 victory over Puketoi and Carterton edged out Eketahuna 29-28.