Goodger presses for higher honours

The outstanding all-round skills of young lock James Goodger were again to the fore when Marist finished with a wet sail to beat Eketahuna 35-12 in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match at Memorial Park on Saturday.
Goodger has been a standout player on the club scene all season and he continued his push for representative honours by impressing with his ability to take down clean lineout ball, his strong and deceptive running in broken play, his sturdiness on defence and the soundness of his goal kicking.
Of Marist's 35 points Goodger provided 20 of them through two tries, two penalties and two conversions and it is surely only a matter of time before he gets the opportunity to show his wares on a higher stage.
While Marist's winning margin was comfortable in the end it was only in the last quarter that they pulled away from an Eketahuna side which played with any amount of grit and determination.
Goodger was the star in a Marist pack in which a couple of old heads in Bill Cavubati and Ben Couch were also prominent.
Cavubati used his bulk well in the scrums and as a battering ram in broken play while Couch linked well with his backs on attack and got through a power of defensive work around the fringes of the scrums and mauls.
Flanker Sully Alsop was impressive for Eketahuna with his constant harassing of the Marist inside backs and his speed to the breakdowns and Jared Shilvock shirked nothing in the tight. As is their wont, the Marist backs were always prepared to chance their arm and there were some nice touches on attack from Nathan Couch at first-five and Caleb Vitale and Daniel Blong in midfield. The Eketahuna backs, by contrast, lacked penetration and generally resorted to kicking for territory gain. James Goodger (2), Billy Cavubati, Anthony Balks and Nathan Couch scored tries for Marist and Goodger added two penalties and two conversions. Jared Shilvock and Sully Alsop scored tries for Eketahuna and Graeme Cremen kicked one conversion.
Competition leaders East Coast bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Greytown the previous weekend to edge out third-placed Pioneer 19-15 in a tense and exciting fixture at Whareama. Kane Nooroa, Zeb Aporo and T. Broughton scored tries for East Coast and Nick Olson kicked two conversions. Regular try-scorer, front-rower Ihe Namana, again touched down for Pioneer as did Joe Dahlberg-Paku. David Te Rito added one penalty and one conversion.
Gladstone enhanced their semi-final prospects with a narrow 11-5 win over second-placed Masterton Red Star at Gladstone. John Stevenson scored Gladstone's only try and Jason Kjestrup kicked two penalties. Jordan Watene scored a try for Masterton Red Star.
Martinborough wing Rob Atkinson scored two tries as his team recorded a comfortable 33-0 win over Carterton.
Other try-scorers for Martinborough were Greg Dennes, Greg Wilson and Sam Welch, with Wilson adding one conversion and two penalties.
Greytown also picked up the maximum five competition points with a 38-6 defeat of Puketoi. Brett Aitken, G. Van Dalen, Tommy Sargent, Johnny Avatea and Tavita Isaac (2) scored tries for Greytown and Senoa Isaac kicked four conversions. Lawrence Bambry kicked two penalties for Puketoi.
There are now just two series of preliminary round matches to be played before the semi-finalists are found and unofficial competition points are: East Coast 61, Masterton Red Star 55, Pioneer 47, Martinborough 44, Gladstone 43, Marist 40, Greytown 40, Carterton 28, Eketahuna 16, Puketoi 10.