Rimene stars in Marist romp

It was pretty much the Paddy Rimene Show when Marist beat Puketoi 57-16 in the Wairarapa-Bush senior first division rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
With two tries and six conversions-many of them from wide angles-Rimene finished the game with a personal tally of 22 points but his contribution was even greater than that.
His tactical astuteness in the wet conditions ensured that Marist spent the majority of the game in opposition territory and it was he who sparked most of their most potent attacks.
The match itself produced a reasonable spectacle for the small crowd-there wouldn't have more than 20 in the grandstand- with Puketoi, who are at the tail of the competition ladder, impressing with their never-say-die approach.
They were typically robust up front and especially dangerous whenever they got the chance to show their prowess at the rolling maul. There big prop Matua Puia was invariably the spearhead, aided and abetted by other "tough nouts" in Stu Berry, Keiran Bambry, Brian Anderson and Jared Bambry.
The Marist forwards never really gained a semblance of control in the forward exchanges but they still managed to do enough to earn their backs a fair share of quality possession.
In Greg Peters, Corey Reid and Kerry Hargood they had a trio of useful ball winners at lineout time and Vernon Boyce and Ngamu Lopu shirked little in the tighter exchanges.
Puketoi had former All Black flanker Brett Harvey at fullback- a sure indication that playing numbers were stretched to breaking point- and he made a decent fist of it, positioning himself well on defence and scoring one of his team's two tries.
"Harvs" left the field late in the second half and it was hard to tell from the sidelines whether he was injured or just plain tired!. Bo Milner and Evan Small were two other Puketoi backs to have solid games.
Rimene was undoubtedly the star of the Marist backline but there was some lively play too from halfback Geordie Walden and the usual hard running in midfield from second-five Nathan Couch.
Rimene (2) Walden (2), Rowan Lilo, Phil Aporo, Nathan Couch., Rhys Severn and Kerry Hargood scored tries for Marist and Rimene also kicked six conversions.,Brett Harvey and Matua Puia scored tries for Puketpoi and Bo Milner kicked two penalties.
Eketahuna showed just why they are clear at the top of the competition table when they beat Carterton 31-3 in their match at Eketahuna.Carterton opened the scoring with a penalty to Neil Rodger early in the game but from then on it was all Eketahuna with their forwards gaining a clear measure of superiority in the scrums, rucks and mauls.
Both locks Josh Mackey and Tim Iro had big games for Eketahuna as did hooker Rob Foreman and loosies Steve Olds and Solly Alsop..
Halfback Hamish McKenzie was the pick of an Eketahuna backline which functioned efficiently throughout the game and there was a lot to like about the solidness of John Guillard at second-five.
Olds scored two of the Eketahuna tries with others going to Brendon Walker, Hamish McKenzie and Dave Murdoch. Three conversions were kicked by Simanu Simanu.
Pioneer scored four tries to two in beating East Coast at the Park Sportsground in Masterton by 22-10. a statistic which rightly indicated that Pioneer's finishing work was a little more precise than that of their opposition.. Try scorers for Pioneer were T.Mason (2), Adam Wichman and Victor Thompson while Glen Ferguson kicked one conversion.
Gladstone had too many guns for Masterton Red Star at Gladstone, winning their match 60-0, while Greytown-Tuhirangi again illustrated they will be a serious contender for a finals berth by beating Martinborough 30-0.