Loss spells end to Wairarapa Bush hopes

Wairarapa-Bush dashed any hopes of making the Heartland rugby championship Meads Cup semi-finals with their 34-28 loss to South Canterbury at Timaru on Saturday.
Even the maximum five points from the last of their preliminary round matches against Mid-Canterbury in Masterton next weekend would not be enough to elevate Wairarapa-Bush into the top four The best they can do now is fifth.
South Canterbury's latest victory was their first at home in the Heartland championship for two years and their first over Wairarapa-Bush since 2003.It did not come without a struggle though, particularly in the first half at the end of which Wairarapa-Bush held a 28-17 advantage.
With wing Junior Togia having scored two tries and Tommy Harmon and Sam Mitchell one apiece, all of which were converted by Byron Karaitaina, Wairarapa-Bush had already picked up one bonus point by the interval and looked well on the way to success.
Their forwards looked to have the edge in the set poieces of lineout and scrum and were providing a steady amount of quality possession for a backline which looked full of running.
The second half was, however, an entirely different story.Then it was the South Canterbury pack which called the tune and their backs time and again found gaping holes in the Wairarapa-Bush defensive screen.
Also aiding and abetting the South Canterbury cause was some injudicious kicking by the Wairarapa-Bush backs with the ball invariably being returned with interest through well organised and well-taken counter attacks.
The end result of this South Canterbury dominance was that they were able to exactly double their halftime score while Wairarapa-Bush remained scoreless for the whole of the second half.
Wairarapa-Bush coach Kelvin Tantrum did not try to hide his disappointment at his side's second half effort, labelling it as easily as the worst rugby they had played in their current Heartland campaign.
"We were ordinary... very, very ordinary", he said. " They (South Canterbury) lifted their effort a cog or two and we went in the other direction, it was pretty average stuff".
There were, however, some fine individual performances from Wairarapa-Bush players, none more so than that from lock Corey Reid, who was called into the starting line-up at the eleventh hour when Tomasi Kedrabuka fell ill and was unable to travel south. Reid took down his share of clean lineout ball, was vigorous in the mauls and pulled off a number of telling tackles.
Hooker Richard Puddy made a major contribution to the first half effort with his accurate lineout throwing and liveliness in general play and lock Andrew McLean was typically hard grafting in the tighter aspects of the forward game.
The ever elusive Junior Togia on the wing was the standout in the Wairarapa-Bush backline.He looked dangerous whenever the ball came his way.Halfback Nick Risdon generally provided a swift and accurate service and shirked nothing on cover defence.
Other Meads Cup matches on Saturday saw Mid-Cantyerbury upset Waganui 23-14 and Poverty Bay edge out Horowhenua-Kapiti 25-21.
Points going into the last of series of preliminary round matches are: Wanganui 25, Poverty Bay 23, Mid-Canterbury 23, Horowhenua-Kapiti 19, South Canterbury 18, Wairarapa-Bush 16.