Russell hails massive defensive effort

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell wasn't the least surprised at his team's huge defensive effort during their enthralling 25-19 win over North Otago in the Heartland championship semi-final match at Masterton on Saturday.
The home team had to withstand a constant barrage of North Otago attacks in the last 10 minutes as they desperately sought the converted try which would have seen them though to the Meads Cup grand final at Wanganui's Cook Gardens seven days later.
But while most local fans had their heart in their mouths as those minutes ticked slowly away Russell's confidence in his side's ability to keep their line intact never wavered.
"The defensive strategy was working so well I always thought we would keep them out," he said. "Everybody was holding their line and making their tackles?..it was always going to take something pretty special to crack them."
A strong defence has been one of the main attributes of Wairarapa-Bush right through their Heartland campaign but it hasn't come through the players constantly throwing themselves at the tackle bags.
Rather it has been more about systems being put in place and the players trusting each other to carry out their side of the bargain.
"Defence is a lot about trust, of making sure you do your job and not worrying about anybody else not doing theirs," Russell said. "And you need to be assertive, that's very important too."
Russell said talk that North Otago may well have been awarded a try in the closing stanzas if the match officials had included a television referee didn't take account of the fact that Wairarapa-Bush had been denied at least a couple of tries themselves by "interesting" decisions.
"At the end of the day I believe we were the better team and got the result we deserved," he said.
Russell admits though that he was not overly enthused with the way Wairarapa-Bush played in a first half which ended with them trailing 19-17.
Too often for comfort they had failed to stick to a game plan which was based on moving the North Otago forwards around with the idea of taxing their reserves in the summer-like conditions.
"They (North Otago) were pretty content to keep it tight and try to bash through the midfield and we were allowing them to do that," he said.
The first 30 minutes of the second half, however, were an entirely different story with Wairarapa-Bush dominating possession and territory and building what was to be a winning lead.
"We played a lot smarter then. We got them on the back foot and kept them there for long periods,"Russell said.
"And we attacked them in a number of different areas which kept their defence guessing. It was just what we needed to do."
Russell said North Otago's resurgence in that hectic last 10 minutes was always likely to happen as their grand final aspirations were on the line and they had no option but to throw everything possible into a last ditch effort.
"Obviously it would have been nicer for us had we had more than six points in the bag but I guess it made the boys even more determined knowing that a converted try could do it for them," Russell said.
Not only was the end result pleasing for Wairarapa-Bush but so was the fact that apart from winger Francis Seumanutata they came through the game without any major injury problems.
Seumanutata ended up with a crocked ankle and Russell put his chances of being available for the Wanganui game as no better than 50-50.
He was having the injury x-rayed yesterday and was very unlikely to take any part in training tonight.
If Seumanutata can't play in the final there are three possible replacements for him, Lance Stevenson, Tommy Harmon and Duncan Rutherford, none of whom are specialist wingers but all of whom have had experience in the position.
That's a situtation which pleases Russell, who firmly believes the depth in the Wairarapa-Bush squad has been a a big plus through the 2006 season.
"To be able to bring players off the reserve bench and have total confidence in them not having any adverse effect on the team effort is huge," he said. "In fact, they've often enhanced it if anything."
Russell is hopeful their physically demanding semi-final will work in Wairarapa-Bush's favour when they play Wanganui, who got through to the competition decider with a relatively comfortable 30-17 victory over Mid-Canterbury.
"It's a big confidence boost to the players to know they have successfully withstood that sort of pressure and it's just a matter of them doing it all over again," he said.
Russell is adamant the 28-22 defeat at the hands of Wanganui in their top six playoff match will play little, if any, part in their build-up to the grand final.
Except that of a reminder that if Wairarapa-Bush had made the most of their chances that day that would be playing this game at home rather than in Wanganui.
"There was nothing about that match which said that Wanganui can't be beaten and that's the way we are approaching this game," he said.
"We will be concentrating on what we want to do, rather than worrying about anything they might come up with."
Russell believes the sheer physical presence of the Wairarapa-Bush forwards could have an important bearing in the Meads Cup finale.
"Controlling possession is the key and we have a pack which is certainly capable of doing that," he said. "Wanganui are sure to try and tough it out with us up front and so having the edge there would be good start, wouldn't it?"
With that in mind the onus will also be on the Wairarapa-Bush inside backs to call the tune tactically and Russell says they will have taken many positives from their play in the second half of the North Otago game.
"They showed a lot of tactical nous then and that's what we need for 80 minutes on Saturday," he said.
"We have to play smart rugby, do that and we will get the result we want."
They reckon big girls don't cry but national steeples champion Kate McIlroy would have shed buckets of tears had she seen the techniques used by some of the competitors in a cross-country event organised by Ruamahanga Ramblers at Gladstone on Saturday.
The course included four steeples on each of the 870m laps which challenged the skills of the handicapper as well as the runners.
Teams combined some of the faster runners with those of lesser pace and also walkers and it was a combination including two of the younger athletes, Lucy Britland and Alex Magaw, who took the honours.
That duo completed a lap each with the other four being completed by Paul Furkert and they had more than a minute to spare from their nearest rivals.
Results: Alex Magaw, Lucy Britland and Paul Furkert 24.28, Greg Lang and Ali Lang 25.35, John Sage and Norm Wilton 25.36, Matthew Furkert and Ray Wallis 26.13, Ester Lang, Hannah Lang and Steve Britland 28.46, Aden Furkert, Lyn McLennan and Chris Megaw 28.47.
That was the last Saturday event for the harriers and the Ramblers will now meet on Tuesday evenings for the Child Cancer twilight 5km road series, the first event starting tonight from St David Church in High street, Carterton at 6pm.