Greytown have their revenge

Greytown-Tuhirangi burst the Pioneer bubble when they scored a deserved 23-15 win in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match played at the Park Sportsground in Masterton on Saturday.
Up against a Pioneer side which had beaten them 17-7 just seven days previously, and taken away the Moose Kapene Cup as winners of the preliminary round competition as a consequence, Greytown-Tuhirangi owed their victory to a pack which was more assertive in the tighter exchanges and more mobile and constructive in the loose.
The visitors were especially effective in the set pieces of scrum and lineout with hard-working front rowers Brett Rudman, Dylan Higgison and Bruce McKenzie anchoring the former and captain Stu Weatherstone and Norm Henricksen ruling the roost in the latter.
The same quintet were also prominent in broken play situations, particularly the pick and go where they often combined to make valuable meterage, and their mobility meant they were invariably on the shoulder of their most impressive loose forward, Sylvanus Iro, whenever he was on the burst.
It was Iro who scored the game's best try, receiving the ball near the right hand touchline about 15m out from the Pioneer line, and utilising acceleration and some some nifty footwork to beat a couple of would-be defenders
The Greytown-Tuhirangi backline had a makeshift look to it after first-five Kingi Kaiwai went off injured early in the match, but they complemented their forwards well with young halfback Mike Hollis the standout. His passing was both swift and accurate and he varied the direction of play impressively.
Pioneer, which had won their previous seven matches, were missing their star forward Nathan Rolls and his absence was sorely felt. Their forwards tended to operate in fits and starts with only Isaac Rolls and Dave Ewe taking the eye for consistent effort and their backs, who looked full of running in the opening stanzas, were seldom able to utilise their attacking talents. However, second-five Russell Thompson, won full marks for application on both attack and defence, and Jordan Fox made the most of his few chances on the wing.
Ewen Telford (2) and Sylvanus Iro scored the tries for Greytown-Tuhirangi with Jacob Ross adding two penalties and one conversion. Try scorers for Pioneer were Joe Papalii, Mike Harmon and Troy Mason.
Carterton's 28-19 win over Marist in their premier division match at Carterton was due in large part to their ability to turn scoring opportunities into points on the board, while Marist on the other hand struggled in that regard.
No.8 Mike Wakefield, lock Tomasi Kedarabuka and prop Bert Buckle were at the forefront of a Carterton pack which had the better of their Marist counterparts in most departments.
And in a Carterton backline which lost two of their most experienced players, Glen Bunny and Neil Rodgers, injured during the course of the game, it was centre Lance Stevenson who made the biggest impression although the goal kicking of fullback Jono Hurley did play a big part in the end result. He missed only one of six attempts. Marist had enough territory and possession to make a close game of it, but struggled to get any continuity into their game, partly because of their own inadequacies but also because of a robust Carterton defence.
Mike Wakefield, Tomasi Kedarabuka and Lance Stevenson scored tries for Carterton and Jono Hurley kicked three penalties and two conversions. Geordie Walden, Patrick Rimene and Lawrence Matthews scored tries for Marist and Rimene also kicked two conversions. Gladstone kept their title aspirations very much alive when they beat defending champions Eketahuna at Eketahuna 16-11. It was a win worth celebrating for Gladstone as they had were on the end of a decent beating by Eketahuna in last season's grand final, and had also lost their preliminary round encounter this year. For Eketahuna it was their third defeat in 2006 and raised further questions over their ability to win the premier division championship for what would be the fourth successive time.
In the premier division B competition Masterton Red Star edged out Puketoi 20-18 and East Coast beat Martinborough 19-12.