Team?s effort delights coach

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell was delighted his team answered the call in their Jimmy Cotter Memorial Trophy match with Wellington at Memorial Park, Masterton on Tuesday.
With only a couple of trainings to fit them for a match against the top club players from the capital the locals were always going to be up against it but despite their 38-13 loss gave about as good as they received.
Russell said he had asked his players to adopt a physical stance, to get in the faces of Wellington and upset their rhythm.
And they had done their best to do exactly that.
"We knew that if we gave them space to move they would probably run us ragged so we had to be aggressive in defence and, for the most part, we were," Russell said. "There were two or three tackles missed which cost us tries, but otherwise our defensive effort was pretty much up to scratch"
Russell was pleased too with the number of turnovers Wairarapa-Bush achieved in the tackle situation and put that down to their assertive approach.
"When you go in hard on the tackle there is always the chance the ball will spill loose and that happened on a number of occasions," he said, adding that Wellington coach John Plumtree had congratulated Wairarapa-Bush on the tenacity of their defence.
Russell was satisfied with the effort of the Wairarapa-Bush forwards in the set pieces considering their lack of preparation and believes a couple of penalties awarded against halfback James Bruce at scrum time in the first half might have been a "bit tough"
With Wellington having a decent weight advantage in that department keeping the scrum steady was always going to be a problem and Bruce had simply not been prepared to put the ball in with his forwards already going backwards.
"We got penalised for delaying the put in but, in the circumstances, it was the right thing to do,"Russell said.
A feature of the Wairarapa-Bush forward effort was the dynamic play in the loose from No.8 Sylvanus Iro and openside flanker Damon Neal. Their combination was superb with Iro generally leading the way and Neal right on his shoulder
"You wouldn't have thought it was the first time those two had played together, would you?" Russell said. "They both had exceptional games."
The Wairarapa-Bush backs had few chances to show their attacking skills but they too were impressive on defence, none more so than experienced midfielders Nathan Couch and Simanu Simanu.
The latter had the misfortune to earn the wrath of the referee for what he considered to be a dangerous tackle mid-way through the second half and was red carded, leaving Wairarapa-Bush to play the last quarter with only 14 men.
Russell said his own impression of the Simanu incident was that it was a reflex action which looked a lot worse than it actually was.
"It's one of those things which happens in a game of rugby from time to time and it just depends on how the referee sees it," he said.
The Wairarapa-Bush coach considers a number of the new faces in the Wairarapa-Bush squad did enough in Tuesday's game to lay claims for regular selection as the season progresses.
He himself did not name names but among those in that cateogry would be flanker Neal, lock cum loosie Steve Wilkinson, lock Jason Russo, prop Angus McMillan, halfback Victor Thompson and fullback John Uys.
The next game for Wairarapa-Bush is another "friendly", this time against second division Hawke's Bay in Napier on June 6.
The squad for that match is expected to be similar to that for the Wellington game although players like Rob Dick, Joe Harwood and Sam Henderson, who are currently recovering from injury, are likely to be included if they are back to full health.
Meanwhile Wairarapa-Bush club rugby continues on Saturday with the feature game at Memorial Park seeing top placed Eketahuna up against Masterton Red Star.
The draw is:-
Senior first division: Masterton Red Star v Eketahuna, Memorial Park at 2.30pm (D.Goodin; P.Gardiner and C.Jefferies); Carterton v East Coast, Carterton at 2.30pm (G.Reisima; G.Duffy); Pioneer v Greytown-Tuhirangi, Jean street at 2.30pm (T.Roseingrave); Martinborough v Puketoi, Martinborough at 2.30pm (G.Hall; D Taylor); Gladstone v Marist, Gladstone at 2.30pm (K.Nalder).
Senior thirds: Masterton Red Star v Eketahuna, Memorial Park No.1 at 1pm (P.Gardiner); Carterton v East Coast, Carterton at 1pm (G.Duffy); Pioneer v Greytown-Tuhirangi, Jean street at 1pm (no referee listed); Martinborough v
Featherston, Martinborough at 1pm (D.Taylor); Gladstone a bye.
Colts: Eketahuna v Palmerston North Boys High, Eketahuna at 1.10pm (G.Moorcock).
College games.-First XV: Kuranui v Taita, Kuranui at 1pm (R.McKay); Makoura v St Peters, Makoura at 1.10pm (M.Brown); Wairarapa v Waiopehu, Wairarapa at 1.10pm (N.Burt). Under-15: Rathkeale v Awatapu, Rathkeale at 10am (M.Lynch).Junior grading games at Wairarapa College: Rathkeale A v Chanel at 9.30am, Rathkeale B v Kuranui, Wairarapa Gold v Makoura at 9.30am, Rathkeale A v Wairarapa Black at 10,10am, Rathkeale B v Wairarapa Blue at 10.10am, Chanel v Wairarapa Gold at 10.10am, Makoura v Kuranui at 10.50am, Wairarapa Blue v Wairarapa Black at 10.50am (P.Makarini). Open grade: Rathkeale seconds v Kuranui seconds, Rathkeale at 10am (C.Jefferies); Makoura seconds v Wairarapa fourths, Makoura at 10am (B.Whale); Wairarapa thirds v Chanel firsts, Wairarapa at 10am (B.King).