Simply beaten by a better team

It was simply a case of being beaten by a better team when Wairarapa-Bush were on the end of a convincing 36-25 beating by Mid-Canterbury in their Heartland championship rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
Whereas their loss to Horowhenua-Kapiti seven days previously was more through Wairarapa-Bush playing poorly than their opposition playing well, no one could deny Mid-Canterbury deserved the spoils on this occasion.
The southerners were at least a couple of notches ahead of Wairarapa-Bush in the forward exchanges and it was a similar situation in the backs.
Nothing impressed more about the Mid-Canterbury effort up front than their unity in what was their most dangerous attacking option all game, the rolling maul.
Several times there they had the Wairarapa-Bush pack going backwards at a rapid rate of knots with the close support of the ball carrier ensuring that possession was always well protected.
One could not help but admire too the speed and constructiveness of Mid-Canterbury in the looser aspects of the forward game.
Spearheaded by outstanding openside flanker Jason Gill, they generally arrived at the breakdowns in good numbers and delivered the ball on a plate to their inside backs, who were astute enough to adopt tactics which ensured the momentum gained from the dominance of their pack was sustained.
Not that Mid-Canterbury relied solely on their forwards to call the tune though.
Their rearguard appealed as a lively lot as well with their passing and handling skills being a class and more above anything seen from any other Heartland team at Memorial Park this season.
Interestingly enough it was a couple of well-known rugby names in Umaga and Nonu who provided most of the spark in midfield, second-five James Umaga and centre Manase Nonu, but if there was an award for back of the day even they would have had to play second fiddle to their first-five Doug Maw.
His calmness under pressure and ability to rake off huge distances with his line kicks marked him as a special talent.
For Wairarapa-Bush, Saturday's result was not only disappointing because they were so comfortably outplayed.
It also brought them no competition points and means they go into the Meads Cup playoffs as third equal seeds despite them sharing the pool A honours with Mid-Canterbury with 15 points apiece.
Ahead of them are the top two qualifiers from pool B, North Otago (23 points) and Buller (17 points), while the third placed team there, Wanganui, also have 15 points.
Making up the Meads Cup section are King Country, who completed their pool B programme with 14 points.
The fact their star back Simanu Simanu was ruled out through injury and their star forward Tomasi Kedrabuka's sore shoulder saw him play only the second half, and that on the side of the scrum rather than his usual place of lock, did not help the Wairarapa-Bush cause but it could not be used as an excuse for such a comprehensive defeat either.
There was some real intensity from the forwards through the middle stages of the first half a period in which their own rolling maul was almost as effective as that of Mid-Canterbury but unfortunately that was not maintained long enough to make a difference to the end result.
One could hardly point the finger at skipper Mike Spence for any lack of leadership though as he seldom failed to get himself over the advantage line on the many occasions he chose to run from the back of the scrums, where the platform was a slight improvement on what it was in Levin.
And Spence matched his high work rate there by shirking nothing in defensive situations either.
His tackle count would have been as high as anyone else.
Replacing Kedrabuka in the locking role was always going to be a big ask for Jared Bambry but he at least got himself involved in much of the forward action through the first half and if Dan Griffin wasn't quite as prominent as usual in the lineouts he was still the home team's best performer in that department.
The Wairarapa-Bush backs were a bit like their forwards, good enough at times to open up the Mid-Canterbury defence with snappy passing and strong running but all too often lapsing into the same basic errors which have been a bane for them through most of the current Heartland campaign.
The solidity of John Dodd at first-five was, however, a definite plus, particularly with the accuracy of his line kicking, and, interestingly enough, he also looked a very competent fullback when moved there late in the game.
There was too some useful counter attacking from Heemi Tupaea at fullback while wing Lance Stevenson scored a nice try at one end and pulled off a try saving tackle at the other.
Jack Umaga, Manase Nonu, Dave Maw, James Carr and Jason Gill scored tries for Mid-Canterbury and Maw landed four conversions and one penalty.
Heemi Tupaea, Lance Stevenson and Sully Alsop scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush with John Dodd kicking two penalties and two conversions.
Not surprisingly, the $64,000 question on most people lips after Saturday's game was whether coaches Graham Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson would continue to stick with their current squad for the Meads Cup playoffs, or whether they would be tempted to look to some of the more experienced players in the in-form Wairarapa-Bush B side in an attempt to cover the deficiencies the last two games have exposed.
One thing is for sure, however, and that is that the opposition teams like North Otago, Buller, Wanganui will offer in those playoffs will be as good, if not better, than that provided by Mid-Canterbury in pool play.
It's a daunting thought, isn't it?