Plucky Marist stretch Pioneer

It took a last-minute penalty goal for Pioneer to snuff out a brave Marist challenge 11-10 in their Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby match played before a big crowd at the Park Sportsground in Masterton on Saturday.
Aiming for their sixth successive win and to retain their lead on the Kapene Cup points table, Pioneer had to play a different type of rugby than than what they have been accustomed to for most of this season.
Invariably it has been the pace and flair of their backs which has called the tune but against a Marist side intent on shutting them down through an aggressive "in-your-face"defensive approach their rearguard was able to make little headway on this occasion.
It was a similar state of affairs for the Marist backs, too. Like their Pioneer counterparts, they did their best to demonstrate their attacking skills but seldom did they have the time or space to work into top gear.
Up front the exchanges were quite brutal in their intensity. The two packs went at it hammer and tongs for most of the 80 minutes with the ferocity of the close quarter defence around the fringes of the rucks and mauls a particular highlight.
Numerous big hits were made and it spoke volumes for the discipline of the players - and the control of referee Dean Goodin - that tempers seldom frayed.
Yes, there were a couple of yellow cards handed out and Pioneer had a player red carded just before fulltime for an illegal tackle, but they could fairly be labelled as isolated incidents in a contest where the level of physical endeavour was incredibly high for a club game.
Livewire hooker Aki Kuru, along with prop Porky Henare, locks Conan Harmon and Henare Te Whare and loosies Mike Harmon and Pele Iolu were standout figures in the Pioneer pack while the pick of the Marist forwards were the loose trio of James Goodger, Rhys Severn and Joe Nuku and experienced campaigners Ben Couch, playing at lock, and prop Lee Paku.
This was a match in which the backs were forced into a mainly secondary role but utility player Joe Papaali impressed with the solidity of his play for Pioneer as did fullback Lawrence Titter and halfback Dennis Feidelberg for Marist. Kicking that last-minute penalty goal from about 40m out was a definite plus mark too, for Pioneer first-five Tipi Haira, whose general play was sound as well.
Porky Henare scored the Pioneer try and Tipi Haira kicked two penalties. Murray Gleeson scored a try for Marist and James Goodger kicked one penalty and one conversion.
Masterton Red Star bounced back from their hefty defeat at the hands of Pioneer the previous weekend with a 33-5 win over Featherston at Memorial Park with the latter providing more spirited opposition than the final scoreline indicated. In fact, Masterton Red Star led by just 11-5 at halftime and three of their four tries came in the last 15 minutes.
Tim Grooby, Ryan Clarkson and Sam Davies (2) were the try scorers for Masterton Red Star and Jamie Fraser kicked three penalties and two conversions. Sami scored a try for Featherston.
Carterton and Eketahuna had a battle royal with Carterton getting home by a solitary point, 24 to 23. Jono Hurley provided 19 of the Carterton points with a try, one conversion and four penalty goals and Lance Stevenson also scored a try. Dan Griffin, Luke Mahoney and Feo were the try scorers for Eketahuna and Joe Hull kicked two penalties and one conversion.
Gladstone started well against Martinborough and looked set for a comfortable win but the southerners fought back strongly and there were only six points in it at the end, Gladstone winning 20-14. Chris Bargh, Andrew McLean and Katia scored their tries and Bailey kicked one penalty and one conversion.
The Eketahuna women's rugby team returned to winning form in their Wellington premier division competition on Saturday thrashing Marist St Pats 88-0.