Gladstone wins it by a nose

The bonus point they earned for finishing seven points or less from the winning team enabled Gladstone to successfully defend the Chris Kapene Memorial Cup despite their surprise 16-15 loss to Puketoi at Pongaroa when the final round of matches in this Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby competition was played on Saturday.
Gladstone and Carterton, which finished their programme with a resounding 43-10 win over Eketahuna, both ended the Kapene Cup series on 27pts but Gladstone retained the trophy because they had won the earlier match played between those two teams, the first of the countback rules.They also had a better points for and against differential than Carterton.
Coach Steve Thompson was making no excuses for his team's defeat in the Pongaroa match,, a game in which Puketoi was ahead 9-5 at halftime only for Gladstone to hit back with a converted try and a dropped goal to lead 15-9.;
But Puketoi had the final say, Brendan Power scoring from a well-rehearsed move and Jason Liverton slotting the conversion to put them one point in front.
Thompson said it was a case of Puketoi clearly having the better of the forward exchanges, thereby nullifying to a large extent any advantage Gladstone might have had in the backs.
"Their forwards took control, once they got their drives going they were very hard to stop," Thompson said. "Their level of commitment was better than ours, simple as that."
Loose forward Evan Small was a key member of the Puketoi forward effort with his inspirational leadership and he was given grand support from the likes of Kyle Haywood, Martin von Heucklebum and the Bambry brothers.
Another major plus for Puketoi was the accurate tactical kicking of first-five Jason Liverton. He had a big impact on the scoreboard too, his three penalties and conversion of Power's try giving him 11 valuable points for the game.
Puketoi coach Tahi Hiroki who actually joined the action on the blindside flank in the second half, was delighted with the way his team stuck to their game plan.. "We knew we had to win it in the forwards and we got stuck in there," he said.
"And Jason (Liverton) was superb&&absolutely; superb.".
As usual Mike Spence was a tireless worker in a Gladstone pack which seldom showed the fire expected from it and it was not a game in which any of their backs were able to shine.It was Gladstone's second shock loss in as many weeks, following hard on the heels of their defeat by East Coast the previous Saturday. EKETAHUNA V CARTERTON
Two young backs grabbed the limelight in Carterton's six tries to two 43-10 win over Eketahuna in an entertaining fixture played before a sparse crowd at Carterton.
First-five Jono Hurley not only contributed 13 points to the Carterton tally with some excellent goal kicking but was outstanding in general play, varying his tactics cleverly on attack and gaining considerable length with his clearing kicks in defensive situations
Centre Charlie Walker-Blair, an Englishman who debuted for Wairarapa-Bush on the wing against the Wellington XV, broke tackles at will on practically every occasion the ball came his way. He also showed the ability to run his supports into try scoring positions with well-timed passing.
The soundness of Justin Lett at halfback was another definite plus for Carterton and Glen Bunny was a solid link when he came off the reserve bench to play at second-five in the second spell.
The Carterton forwards didn't have it all their way against a feisty Eketahuna eight but there was a lot to like about the willingness of hooker Joe Harwood to run the ball back at the opposition, the speed in broken play of big men like Lance Graves and Tomasi Kedrabuka and the constructivess in the loose of Patrick Cassidy and Reuben Daysh.
Eketahuna were by means as outclassed as the final score might indicate. Lock Daniel Griffin was a star performer up front, actually bettering Kedrabuka in the lineouts and making several strong runs. Unfortunately he left the field with a knee injury in the second half which might spell bad news not only for Eketahuna in the weeks ahead but for Wairarapa-Bush as well.
Loose forward Dan Udy also had a big game for Eketahuna with his high workrate on both attack and defence and Josh William and Ben Aldworth were a couple of impressive grafters in the front row.
The lack of a tactician of Hurley's guile was the obvious missing link on the Eketahuna backline but halfback Cory Broughton was always in the thick of the action, midfielder Jon Guillard ran powerfully when the opportunity arose and replacement winger Blair Percy was also hard to stop when in full flight. MARIST V EAST COAST
Marist and East Coast scored two tries apiece in their match at Whareama with the three penalties and one conversion kicked by Patrick Rimene playing a big hand in Marist's 21-15 win.GREYTOWN V MARTINBOROUGH
Martinborough and Greytown hade a close battle at Martinborough with the home team scoring two tries to one and winning 18-7.
Short scoreboards: Puketoi 16 (B.Power try, J Liverton three penalties and one conversion), Gladstone 15 ( S.Wilkinson and A.Crisp tries, J Logue dropped goal and one conversion); Carterton 43 (C.Walker- Blair 2, M.Wakefield, T.Kedrabuka, P.Cassidy, J Lett tries, J.Hurley five conversions and one penalty), Eketahuna 10 (L Johnson and B.Aldworth tries); Marist 21 (J.Fox 2 tries, P.Rimene three penalties and one conversion), East Coast 15 (D.Mitchell and T,Mason tries,R.Farrell one conversion and one penalty); Martinborough 18 (B.Hawkins, R.Atkinson tries, G.Wilson one conversion and two penalties), Greytown 7 (J.Cosgrove try, R.Tosswill conversion).
Final Kapene Cup points were: Gladstone 27, Carterton 27, Marist 24, East Cxoast 21, Eketahauna 18, Martinborough 17, Pioneer 16, Puketoi 10 and Greytown 9.