Red Star rise above their difficulties

A plucky Masterton Red Star battled their way to an 8-7 win over Marist in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match at Memorial Park in Masterton on Saturday _ with battled being the operative word.
The defending champions must have thought the rugby gods were against them throughout a first half in which they were absolutely caned on the penalty count, most of their misdemeanours seemingly coming in the tackled ball and maul situations.
Masterton Red Star skipper Chris Senior was often seen in discussions with referee Tom Roseingrave over the reasons for his team's indiscretions but to no apparent avail.
It wasn't only the penalty count which was a major concern to Masterton Red Star though, they were also up against a Marist side whose forwards were regularly providing the type of possession needed for inside backs Api Matenga and Nathan Couch to ensure their team played most of that 40 minutes deep in Masterton Red Star territory.
There was disappointment too, however, for Marist in that apart from a try to fullback Murray Gleeson, converted by Nathan Couch, they were unable to establish a big enough lead on the scoreboard to shut Masterton Red Star out of the game.
And that came back to haunt them after the break when a combination of fewer infringements and a noticeable lift in the workrate of their pack saw Masterton Red Star actually attain a measure of control and score all eight of the points recorded in that 40 minutes. First, wing Chris Osborne kicked a penalty and then late in proceedings halfback Sam Parker crashed over for the all-important five-pointer.
There was still a nervous moment to come for Masterton Red Star though, with Marist being awarded a long-range penalty in the dying seconds and Nathan Couch's attempt falling just short.
Locks Tyrone McTavish and Jake Bubb both spent 10 minutes in the sin bin but were still inspirational figures in the second-half resurgence by the Masterton Red Star forwards. Both starred in rampaging bursts in broken play and McTavish, in particular, was a regular winner of clean lineout ball. No8 Geordie McCallum was typically industrious and captain Senior, when not chewing the referee's ear, was always close to the centre of play.
The Masterton Red Star backs were content to play second fiddle to their forwards, with centre Joe Papaali and fullback Joseph Dahlberg-Paku the pick of them.
Outstanding for Marist up front was lock Corey Reid, who shirked nothing in the tight but also found time to demonstrate his running skills on numerous occasions. No8 Mekaio had a strong first half and hooker Kyle Karaitiana and flanker Anthony Balks were prominent then as well.
The tactical nous of experienced Marist first-five Nathan Couch was readily apparent, as was the nippiness of halfback Api Matenga, but the stop-start nature of the game meant their pacy outside backs seldom got the chance to stretch their legs in an attacking sense.
Surprise results were the order of the day in the other premier division matches, none more so than East Coast's comfortable 29-12 beating of the in-form Eketahuna side. The scoreboard would suggest it was a comprehensive display by the Coasters, with tries being scored by TK Karaitiana, Zeb Aporo, Nick Olson and Matt O'Connor. Olson provided the rest of the points through his boot. For Eketahuna, Dan Griffin and T. Walker scored tries and T. Fi'o kicked a conversion.
Greytown scored three tries to one in upsetting Martinborough 19-7. The Isaac brothers were the try scorers, Tavita twice and Senoa once, while Senoa Isaac also kicked a conversion, as did Kingi Kaiwai. Warren Ireland scored a try for Martinborough and Darren Kapene landed a conversion.
Puketoi got the expected win over Pioneer, sneaking home 20-18. Their points scorers were not listed but Pioneer scored tries through Ihe Namana, Henare and Vaafusuga and Nathan Rolls kicked a penalty.
Carterton went to the top of the points table with their 48-15 beating of Gladstone. Gladstone were 15-7 up at halftime but the Carterton pack were completely dominant in the second spell and paved the way for what, in the end, was a big win.
Joe Harwood, Brock Price, Mark Harrison, Charlie Brown (2) and Jono Hurley were the Carterton try scorers, while Tipene Haira kicked three conversions and two penalties and Cody Whittaker one conversion.
Unofficial competition points are: Carterton 49, Marist 45, Eketahuna 44, Masterton Red Star 44, East Coast 39, Martinborough 31, Gladstone 21, Greytown 19, Puketoi 14, Pioneer 1.