Going into the Heartland championship, Wairarapa-Bush were made second favourites by the TAB, behind only defending champions Mid-Canterbury. It seemed a fair enough assessment too. After all, they had made the Meads Cup semis on each of the previous two years and their "warm-up" games had produced big wins over fellow Heartland sides Horowhenua-Kapiti and Poverty Bay. Everything about them suggested they were ready and able to be serious contenders for Meads Cup honours this time round.
There are some who have proffered the view that the size of those victories over Horowhenua-Kapiti and Poverty Bay lulled the Wairarapa-Bush camp into a false sense of security. Well, that may have been the case leading into the opening game against King Country, but the sizeable defeat there would have brought them back to Earth with a thud ... surely. Complacency was not an issue in my book.
Nor was endeavour. Never could they have been accused of throwing in the towel, although it is true that the harder they tried, the more basic mistakes they seemed to make. Anybody recording the number of simple handling and passing errors would have had writer's cramp after practically every game.
Discipline too was a major hassle. Hefty penalty counts against them were invariably for misdemeanours which were so easily detectable that referees should have paid half their salary to the players for making their job so comfortable.
It is a fact of sporting life that when teams perform badly, it's the head coach who bears the brunt of the criticism. Mark Rutene understands that as well as anyone, but that doesn't necessarily make it fair. His record in four years at the helm of taking his side to two Meads Cup semis isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination and needs to be taken into account if he happens to seek a fifth term in the job.
Questions can and will, of course, be asked about team selections. Personally, I would have liked to see electrifying Marist outside back Malatai Malatai given a chance to strut his stuff at the higher level because, even when the passes did stick, the Wairarapa-Bush rearguard were too predictable in their attacking approach. In essence if Sam Monaghan was restricted in time and space -- as he often was by opponents well versed in his skills -- then it was pretty much a case of run hard and straight and hope for the best. Malatai is a stepper whose penchant for the unorthodox could have been valuable.
You had to wonder too about the fitness levels of the Wairarapa-Bush backs. The number of times they struggled to contain opposing outside backs willing to go for the outside break suggested some -- and I stress that word -- were not quite up to scratch in that respect. Had they all had the high tackle count of someone like Robbie Anderson then the total of tries conceded would have been of more respectable proportions.
In assessing the efforts of the Wairarapa-Bush forwards, you have to remember that as many as eight or nine of the previous year's pack were not available in 2014. That it is a hell of a lot for any province, let alone one of our size. Senior players like Andrew McLean, Richard Puddy and Kurt Simmonds were leading lights in match after match -- and would be my picks for any player of the year award in that very order -- but there wasn't quite the unity of previous years, especially in the looser phases of the game. The Johan van Vliets and James Goodgers of the world were missed, no doubt about that.
So to imports. I would love a dollar for every time I have been told that Wairarapa-Bush should ditch them and rely solely on locals for their Heartland side. I don't doubt the sincerity of those making that point but, when it comes to attaining sponsorship and putting bums on seats, it is results that count and you will never convince me that while the import rules exist Wairarapa-Bush should be the odd man out.
Yes, this season it wouldn't have mattered but even then you could probably base a fair argument that the reason why was that our imports simply weren't as effective as those in
most other sides and that's something that union officials need to be keeping close tabs on. Enhancing their recruitment processes is a must, absolutely.
A "trick" many of the other unions use is to sign up players from outside their region in time for them to at least play a couple of club games in their adopted province, and therefore become "local" rather than "loan" players. This year's Meads Cup top seeds, Buller, for one, is apparently very accomplished at building their strengths in that fashion.
Maybe we need to work harder in that regard, certainly so if all the rumours about the huge numbers of this year's Wairarapa-Bush squad who will be either retiring or seeking greener pastures in 2015 have any foundation.
Finally, a word on our club rugby. It is my view that if we want our best local players to be fully prepared for the rigours of Heartland rugby we need to decrease the number of senior club sides from the current eight to six and do everything possible to ensure our leading players are encompassed within those teams. That way a diet of truly competitive rugby leading into the rep season would be better achieved.
