Stars put in brave effort

Gladstone did not have it all their own way despite beating Masterton Red Star 35-15 in their Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby match at Memorial Park on Saturday.
The marked advantage they had in height and weight up front suggested last season's defending champions would dominate the battle for possession and consequently win as they liked but that was anything but the case.
Indeed through most of the first half they struggled to combat the terrier-like Stars pack who surprisingly had the edge in the lineouts, measured up well in the scrums and hunted effectively in the loose.
Also the Stars backs, if lacking real penetration out wide, varied their tactics well and with some astute kicking kept Gladstone pinned in their own territory for long periods at a time.
To Gladstone's credit though they survived the Stars onslaught without conceding a first half try and as the match progressed into the second half their forwards started to assert the superiority expected of them and their backs punched holes in a tiring Stars defence with increasing regularity.
In the end then their win was by 20 points but even the most ardent Gladstone supporter would agree it was flattering to an extent.
Two of the more productive Gladstone forwards were front rowers Darren Walker and Ross Batty, both of whom got through a power of work in the tighter exchanges, while Andrew McLean was value in the lineouts and Sam Henderson was the pick of their loosies.He made a number of surging bursts on attack and was a dependable tackler on defence.
Of the Gladstone backs both midfielders Dave Mangatai and Duncan Rutherford had their moments and Matt Easton recovered from a hefty knock to have a solid game at fullback.
Masterton Red Star provided the player of the match in flanker Chris Senior who belied his lack of bulk by constantly taking the eye with his all-purpose performance on both attack and defence.
He had a huge workrate and has to be pressing hard for a Wairarapa-Bush jersey on that display. Lock Hayes also had a big game and there was a lot to like about the steadiness of Jamie Fraser at first-five.
It was a similar story in the curtain-raiser at Memorial Park with Martinborough keeping Marist honest for the full 80 minutes but Marist running out winners by 24-8.
There was real sting in the tail of the Martinborough pack throughout the first half and they often had the more experienced Marist eight on the back pedal, but unfortunately for the southerners they lacked finish to most of their attacking moves.
The second half saw Marist lift their game after a stern halftime address by coach Ivan Karaitiana and while they still tended to waste scoring chances through poor option taking and basic errors they did build a lead which ensured victory would be comfortable,??..if not quite as comfortable though as the scoreboard suggested at the game's end.
Marist benefitted as usual from the solid efforts of old hands, forwards Lee Paku, Vern Boyce and Geordie Walden and backs Patrick Rimene and Phil Aporo,while O'Neil and Hawkins starred in the Martinborough forwards and Coulson was always assertive in midfield.
Aporo, Nuku and Mila scored the tries for Marist and Rimene kicked three conversions and a penalty.PJ Aporo scored the Martinborough try and Murray kicked a penalty.
Pioneer ran in nine tries in disposing off Puketoi 51-12 in their match played at the Park Sportsground. Both Ryan and Mason scored a brace of tries for Pioneer with others going to Henare, Rimene, Harmon and the Foxs, Ben and Jordan.
Puketoi were well beaten but had the satisfaction of scoring 12 points, which was 12 more than they secured in all of their previous games combined
Greytown-Tuhirangi celebrated a 31-21 win over East Coast. Sylvanus Iro scored two of the Greytown-Tuhirangi tries with others going to Huggison, Hollis and Hansson.