Second half revival

FLYING HIGH: It's all in the way you hold your tongue ... Wairarapa-Bush fullback Nick Olson is airborne as he dives for his first-half try in the Heartland match against West Coast at Memorial Park on Saturday.

It is not unusual in any sporting contest to see teams lift their performance as a match progresses.

It is unusual, however, to see improvement of the magnitude shown by Wairarapa-Bush during their 32-12 Heartland rugby championship win over West Coast at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.

For most of the first half Wairarapa-Bush struggled to get any continuity into their play through a veritable mountain of handling and passing errors. Ball was constantly spilled and, apart from that, the tactical kicking invariably went to hand rather than land and the option taking was questionable, to say the least.

Fortunately for the home team, however, West Coast were just as bad. They too lacked accuracy in their play and it was only when they resorted to keeping the ball close to the forwards in the last 10 to 15 minutes of the first spell that they threatened the opposition tryline.

Throw in the fact that Japanese referee Arihisa Aso seemed determined to blow the pea out of his whistle and about the only plus for the good sized crowd in that opening 40 minutes - aside from a spectacular try to Wairarapa-Bush fullback Nick Olson - was the knowledge they hadn't paid to get in, thanks to the generosity of match day sponsors, the Wairarapa Building Society.

Olson's try was, well, typical Olson. Fielding a ball deep in his own territory he swerved his way past a number of would-be defenders before linking up with a couple of teammates and being on hand to take the return pass close to the goalline. Glen Walters kicked the conversion after earlier landing a penalty while all West Coast had to show for their efforts were two Tim Priest penalties.

The first 10 minutes of the second half hardly gave a hint of what was to come either. The bumbles and fumbles of the first half continued but West Coast had a clear ascendancy up front and two more Priest penalties gave them a deserved 12-10 lead.

Adding to Wairarapa-Bush's troubles was the loss of star flanker James Goodger who suffered a suspected broken jaw in a clash of heads when competing for ball at a kickoff. Goodger will probably be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Wairarapa-Bush were a different team in the second spell with the forwards taking the ball through several phases and the backs running with purpose. A second Walters penalty put them 13-12 up and then big prop Jonathon Fuimaono crashed over for a try which Walters converted. Wairarapa-Bush 20. West Coast 12.

By now Wairarapa-Bush were in full cry and with West Coast falling off their tackles another of the front rowers in Finnbarr Kerr-Newell was unstoppable as he scored close to the posts for Walters to convert.

In the space of just 18 minutes Wairarapa-Bush had gone from a point behind to lead 27-12 and the only question remaining was could they secure a fourth try to pick up the extra bonus point as well.

And that was answered close to fulltime when winger Paul Tikomainavalu touched down after some slick passing created an overlap situation.

Individually, this was a game where few in the Wairarapa-Bush starting line-up could be satisfied with their overall performance. Kerr-Newell and Fuimaono were a couple of possible exceptions, but it was, however, those coming off the reserves bench who made the biggest impacts, notably halfback Inia Katia who was all energy on attack and defence.