Lack of discipline mars Marist win

A 43-0 victory sounds impressive enough but Marist should have done better than that in their Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby match with East Coast at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
It was in the first half, at the end of which they led by just 12-0, where Marist continually let themselves down with poor decision making and ill discipline.
Several tries were "bombed" through players electing to go on their own rather than feeding unmarked supports or through passes being thrown in a haphazard fashion and going to ground with the tryline beckoning.
Visiting Marlborough referee Joe Blakison, who had an impressive game himself, also came down tough on Marist players questioning his decisions. Twice he marched them an extra 10 metres for talking back.
The second half saw a very different Marist take the field, different not so much in personnel but in attitude.
Their forwards, who had been inclined to work in two and threes rather than as a unit in the opening 40 minutes, noticeably tightened up their approach and took control in all departments.
And by doing so they earned a steady stream of quality possession for a backline which time and again broke open the opposition defence with hard, straight running and well-timed passing.
The end result was that East Coast spent most of the second spell pinned deep in their own territory and that Marist added five more tries to the two they had chalked up in the first half.
That Marist now have a backline which will front up to any in the first division competition cannot be questioned.
They were too often too clever for their own good in the opening stanzas of Saturday's game but once they got their act together the attacking brilliance of players like first-five Patrick Rimene, midfielders Nathan and Ben Couch and wing Phil Aporo was there for all to see.
Aporo, particularly, was a hard man to stop when in full flight and certainly has skills which could be utilised profitably at a higher level.
Rangy flanker Corey Reid gave his usual tradesmanlike performance in all avenues of the forward game and was the pick of the Marist pack while others to make a favourable impression were Rhys Severn, Kerry Hargood and Matthew Rowlands.
East Coast were all hustle and bustle in the first half and with Marist struggling to get any fluency into their game they were still a winning prospect at the interval..
But the second spell saw the depleted Coasters having to exist on scraps in the possession stakes and with first tackles too often being missed their hopes of victory quickly disappated.
Their best player was undoubtedly hard working No.8 Mike Jackson who pulled down some useful lineout ball and defended stoutly around the fringes of the rucks and mauls. Prop Mike Peacock was a thrustful runner in broken play, young fullback Nick Olson was elusive on the counter attack and Graham Bolstad was an able second half replacement in midfield.
Ben Couch (2), Kerry Hargood (2), Phil Aporo, Nathan Couch and Rhys Serven scored tries for Marist and Patrick Rimene kicked four conversions.
Eketahuna produced what coach Graeme Cheetham said was their best performance to date this season when they crushed Pioneer 51-11 at the Jean Street gounds in Masterton.
The defending champions ran in eight tries to one with halfback Hamish McKenzie registering a hat-trick. He generally chose his options well as did promising-first-five Darren Yates.
Lock Tim Iro was the pick of an Eketahuna pack which dominated possession and there was some typically strong running in the loose from Steve Olds.
Try scorers for Eketahuna were Hamish McKenzie (3), Steve Olds (2), Adam Fisher (2), and Rob Foreman and Simanu Simanu kicked six conversions and one penalty.
Pioneer scored their sole try in the second half after managing two penalties in the first. They had usual flanker Nathan Rolls at fullback and he demonstrated his versatility by having a fine game there.
Greytown-Tuhirangi were kept honest by Masterton Red Star in the first half of their match, at the end of which they led by 22-15. But it was all one-way traffic in the second half with the combined side going on a try scoring spree to win by 67-22.
Loose forward Sylvanus Iro was again a standout for Greytown-Tuhirangi while other strong games came from props Jon Tanner and Dylan Higginson. In the backs the play making skills of first-five Mark Childs were always evident.
Masterton Red Star fielded a depleted pack , with experienced campaigners Russell Van Dieman and Nathan Haglund both sidelined through injury, and it showed. They competed gamely in the opening 40 minutes but were a spent force in the second. Kane Cornford, John Hape and Oka Logaloga were their try scorers while their best players were backs Fita Alatise and Dan Hape.
Loose forwards Brodie Duffin, Joe Harwood and Damon Searle shone as Carterton battled their way to a 34-18 win over Martinborough, Their combined efforts guaranteed that Carterton won a plentiful supply of second phase ball while Shane Namana was equally as prominent at lineout time.
Of the Carterton backs it was halfback Nathan Sanson who took the eye. He scored two tries and was always busy.
Martinborough trailed 3-17 at halftime and almost shared the points in the second spell but made too many basic errors to ever really look like closing the gap.
Gladstone maintained third place on the competition table-behind Eketahuna and Carterton-when they scored a comfortable 58-6 win over Puketoi.