Greytown push Marist but leaders dig deep for victory

Competition leaders Marist were given a wake-up call by Greytown in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
Marist deprived Greytown of even a bonus point by winning 28-19, but the competition leaders trailed by 12-10 at the break and 19-10 early in the second spell.
At that stage a Greytown upset looked very much on, but to Marist's credit they lifted their performance and a couple of late tries helped them seal the victory.
Greytown were clearly the better of the the two teams in an opening 40 minutes which saw them regularly dismantle the Marist scrum, out-muscle their opposition in the rucks and mauls and often open up the Marist defences with some elusive running by a backline always keen to move the ball wide.
In fact, such was Greytown's dominance in the first half that Marist were fortunate to be trailing by just two points at the break and when the visitors notched their early second half converted try to increase their points advantage to nine, the game seemed theirs for the taking.
It was then, however, that the Marist resurgence began.Whereas their forwards had previously been guilty of operating in ones and twos, they began to work as a unit and slowly but surely gained the ascendancy in the battle for possession.
It was no fluke that Marist's effort noticeably lifted at the time former Fiji international Bill Cavubati entered the fray.
The big man might not be the most mobile of forwards, but he certainly cured the frailties of their scrum as well as grabbing valuable metres whenever he had the chance to run the ball back at the Greytown defence.
Seldom did it take less than three or four tackles to stop his progress.
Young Marist hooker Liam Wilson again showed the aggressiveness in his all-round game, which could see him bidding for higher honours a little further down the track. Corey Reid took some good lineout ball and along with fellow lock James Goodger was always looking to get his hands on the ball in broken play and No8 Anthony Balks was a doughty defender.
The solidity of first-five Nathan Couch was an obvious plus for Marist in back play and again there was a lot to admire about the cleverness of halfback Api Matenga and the ability of fullback cum wing Shannon Lewis to make room for himself with tricky footwork.
A brave Greytown side were well served by front-rowers Brett Rudman and PJ Freeman, lock Gareth van Dalen, flanker Brett Aitken and No8 Tommy Sargent up front.
Meanwhile, the inside backs combination of Fraser King and Joseph Sio both appealed as likely prospects, King with his huge workrate on attack and defence and Sio with his tactical appreciation. There was also some strong tackling in midfield from Kingi Kaiwai.
Liam Wilson, Shannon Lewis and Kyle Karaitiana scored tries for Marist, James Goodger kicked two conversions and two penalties and Daniel Blong dropped a goal. The three Isaac brothers, Tavita, Senoa and Tapanga, all scored tries for Greytown and Kingi Kaiwai kicked two conversions.
Masterton Red Star ran in 10 tries in beating Pioneer by 68-3 at the Colombo Road grounds. Byron Karaitiana finished with a personal tally of 28 points from two tries and nine conversions, while other try-scorers were Colt Pureau (2), Heemi Tupaea (2), Joseph Dahlberg-Paku, Greg Paku, Joe Papaali and M. Chrisohoou. Nathan Rolls kicked a penalty for Pioneer.
Martinborough and Gladstone had their expected close tussle with Martinborough before prevailing 23-18. Greg Dennes, Tommy Te Kani and Wal Ireland scored the Martinborough tries and Te Kani added one conversion and two penalties.
Eketahuna started warm favourites to beat Puketoi and while they did prevail, the scoreline of 13-8 was a lot closer than most would have anticipated. Rupeni Temani scored the Eketahuna try, with Cribb kicking two penalties and one conversion. T. Carter scored a try for Puketoi and Jason Liverton landed a penalty.
Carterton put the frustrations of a slow start to the season behind them by scoring a surprisingly convincing 24-0 win over East Coast.
Jono Hurley's boot had a big say in the end result. He kicked one conversion and four penalties, while the try-scorers for Carterton were Charlie Brown and Lachie McFadzean.