Wairarapa-Bush relieved with ugly win

Gary Caffell
Relief was written all over the faces of the Wairarapa-Bush players after fullback Peato "Cash" Lafaele scored the winning try in the last minute of play in their Lochore Cup rugby match with Thames Valley at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday.
Their 11-10 victory was their first success on home territory this season but rather than being greeted with the usual high fives and backslaps there was little sign of celebration from those involved, or their supporters for that matter.
Reason being this was a game which probably produced the worst spectacle at Memorial Park this season, and as anybody who has been there on a regular basis would testify that really is saying something.
In fact, the biggest cheer up until Lafaele did his bit with time almost up was the announcement that Wairarapa United had crushed Stop Out 7-1 in their vital central league promotion-relegation soccer match played over the hill.
Otherwise about the only noise you could hear from the small crowd were groans of despair as first one team and then the other looked to move the ball only for basic handling and passing errors to stop them in their tracks.
Even though Wairarapa-Bush conceded a penalty and a converted try in the opening 10 minutes all to Thames Valley fullback David Harrison one always had the feeling they would come back and win by a comfortable margin.
Not just because they held a decent territorial advantage through most of the remaining 70 minutes but because Thames Valley's continued policy of trying to run the ball out of tight defensive situations always seemed an accident just waiting to happen.
Occasionally they did get themselves over the advantage line but generally they turned over possession before that occurred, thereby creating numerous excellent counter-attacking opportunities for the home side.
Unfortunately, however, Wairarapa-Bush failed to capitalise on their opposition's tactical mad-headedness by constantly spilling ball themselves and also by some inept option taking of their own.
If ever there was a game where they could have benefited by slowing the tempo down and going from one phase to the next so as to drag in the many Thames Valley forwards who spent most of the game fringing on the edges of the rucks and mauls this was it.
But, no, the general Wairarapa-Bush tactic was to shovel first phase ball out into the backs with the hope that they would find someone through the Thames Valley defence but a combination of poor handling, catching and indecisive running meant that it took until the 79th minute before they finally got it right.
Before that their sole points had come from two penalties by Patrick Rimene which saw them trailing 6-10 at the break.
Looking for pluses from Saturday's match for either side is a bit akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.
Wairarapa-Bush will, of course, be grateful they did pick up the four points which should be enough to at least guarantee them a Lochore Cup semi-final berth remembering of course that the points from earlier pool games are carried over but they will need to lift their effort several notches if they are to go beyond that.
No doubt the anxiety to grab a home win played some part in their disappointing performance but when the simple basics are done so badly so often any excuse isn't exactly plausible, is it?
One couldn't question the endeavour of the forwards but they were too loose in their approach and Thames Valley profited as a result.
Had Wairarapa-Bush taken them on in an arm wrestle they would probably have achieved a fair measure of superiority through the sheer strength of players like Dylan Higgison, Joe Harwood and Kurt Simmonds but they were more intent on shifting the ball quickly from hand to hand and it didn't work.
Harwood, did, however, make two or three surging runs which were halted within a couple of metres of the goaline and lock Tomasi Kedrabuka was again a gem at lineout time, often taking down clean two handed ball.
No.8. Mike Spence was his usual hard-working self, especially on close quarter defence.
The Wairarapa-Bush backs have had better days, much better.
If they weren't dropping the ball they were laboured in their passing and but for centre Junior Togia and wing Charlie Walker-Blair there was little sign of penetration in their attacking play. Just why Walker-Blair only received the ball a handful of times is a mystery of Agatha Christie proportions.
Thames Valley are probably still kicking themselves at losing this one, not because they deserved to win it necessarily but because it took Wairarapa-Bush so long to haul them in. In truth though they would be the less skilful of all the Heartland teams seen at local headquarters this season, and by a long shot too. Only flanker Filo Tuuga, hooker Ryan Tohaia and winger Lance Easton made much of an individual impression.
The Wairarapa-Bush under-18s warmed up for their match against the Australian secondary schoolboys at Memorial Park on Friday (kickoff 12 noon) with a 15-10 curtain-raiser win over their Poverty Bay counterparts.