Massacre at the park

Massacre at Memorial Park sounds more like a horror movie than a rugby game but it pretty much fits the action in the annual Jimmy Cotter Memorial Trophy fixture between a Wellington XV and Wairarapa-Bush in Masterton yesterday.
In what was a mismatch of mammoth proportions a Wellington team containing mostly players who will be battling to even make their union's B side as the season progresses ran in 16 tries, nine of which were converted, to win by a staggering 98-0.
And if that wasn't bad enough for the small crowd of loyal local fans even worse was the knowledge that had Wellington not "bombed" probably half a dozen more tries through basic handling and passing errors the final scoreline would have run well into three figures.
That said, the ability of the visitors to shift the ball quickly in both broken play and counter attacking situations was hugely impressive.Overlaps were created almost at will and with their speed and elusiveness in the outside backs little else was required for them to have Wairarapa-Bush standing forlornly behind their own goalposts on an all too regular basis.
To say Wellington won a healthy supply of quality ball from the forward exchanges would be understating their superiority there in a big way and that was without New Zealand seven stars Victor Vito who had been named to captain the side from the blindside flank but did not play. Imagining what damage he would have done in such a one-sided affair doesn't bear thinking about!
The Wellington pack made absolute mince-meat of Wairarapa-Bush in the scrums, even managing a try from a tighthead which is something seldom seen these days, while their dominance in the lineouts was equally as marked. Outstanding too was their unity and drive in the rucks and mauls and, if any testimony of their fitness was needed, even the big men still found time to roam around effectively in the loose.
Clearly evident too in the Wellington performance was a determination not to allow the inadequacies of their opposition to lull them into any form of complacency. They kept the foot on the pedal for the full 80 minutes, not always easy to do when you lead by a massive 43-0 at halftime.Mind you, with a coach like former hard-nosed All Blacks flanker Jamie Joseph I guess you wouldn't expect anything less!
Good as Wellington were, however, there is no question they were helped by a Wairarapa-Bush side which, for the most part, seemed almost intimidated by the wave of black jerseys coming at them time after time. Defensively, they were all too often inept with weak tackles being continually brushed aside in embarrassing fashion, especially around the fringes of the rucks and mauls and in midfield. And unlike in club rugby where one missed tackle usually counts for nothing here it invariably meant points on the board.
New coach Kelvin Tantrum will also have been worried by the lack of fire shown by his team up front. Yes, Wellington did have a powerful lineout and scrum but it was disturbing to see them basically walk all over Wairarapa-Bush in those areas without the latter firing a shot in anger.
Past history is full of tales of Wairarapa-Bush forwards relishing the chance to rip into the "white collar boys" when they tripped over the Rimutakas but this game will have a very different story in that respect. Yesterday it was the home team forwards who were battered into submission, well and truly too!
Very, very little of Wairarapa-Bush's attacking capabilities were seen in this particular match, simply because you can't attack without the ball. There was the odd bit of individual brilliance but as a unit their strengths in that area could not be fairly judged.
This then was obviously not a game in which too many of the Waiorarapa-Bush players enhanced their prospects of selection for the more important Heartland championship matches later in the season. Conversely quite a few probably took a step or two backwards in that regard.
Of the forwards on display No.8 and skipper Mike Spence was clearly the pick. In spite of his scrum usually being on the back foot he was always willing to run the ball back at his opposition at every opportunity and it spoke volumes for his tenacity that he usually made it to the advantage line at least.
Flanker Nathan Rolls had a busy enough first half and along with lock Dan Griffin was his team's best option at lineout time and prop Kurt Simmonds grafted away diligently in the tight.
Of the backs fullback Nick Olson made a couple of try saving tackles and was his team's most valuable asset on the counter attack-one 25 metre break almost ending in a try- and his East Coast clubmate Zeb Aporo was generally sound at halfback.
Buxton Leutalava (3), Joe Hill (2), Alex Tuloa (2), Greg Twaddle (2), Michael Hobbs, Anthony Perenise, Motu Matu'u, Greg Walker, Ash Parker, Ged Robinson and Sino To'omaga scored tries for the Wellington XV. Seminar Manu kicked five conversions and Tu Umaga-Marshall kicked four conversions. Finally, yesterday's debacle provided further evidence of the need for Wairarapa-Bush administrators to urgently take a hard look at their premier team's build-up to the Heartland championship.
For instance, does it make sense that after such a mauling from a second-string Wellington side they now face the prospect of playing the Hawke's Bay and Manawatu Air New Zealand Cup sides,. who will very probably provide even stiffer opposition..
Requesting that they instead play those union's senior B or development sides to help boost player confidence would surely seem the logical way to go.
Yesterday's curtain-raiser at Memorial Park saw a close tussle between Chanel College and Kuranui College with Chanel coming from behind to win 22-18.