Wairarapa forwards lead victory charge

It was mission accomplished for Wairarapa-Bush when they beat Buller 28-13 in their Heartland championship pool A rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton, on Saturday.
Wairarapa-Bush went into the game knowing they had to win to have any chance of securing a place in the Meads Cup play-offs, which get under way next weekend, and they got home comfortably after being level pegging at 6-6 at halftime.
The other part of the equation for Wairarapa-Bush to make the Meads Cup was for Wanganui to beat West Coast in their encounter at Wanganui and Wanganui did the decent thing, scoring by a whopping 33-9.
That result, and Horowhenua-Kapiti's expected 44-3 win over East Coast, left Wanganui with 20pts, Horowhenua-Kapiti with 18 and Wairarapa-Bush with 14 as the three pool A teams to go forward to the Meads Cup play-offs.
West Coast (12), Buller (8) and East Coast (0) will contest the second-tier Lochore Cup section, the section in which Wairarapa-Bush were beaten semi-finalists in 2008.
Wairarapa-Bush will, however, have to make up lost ground to reach the Meads Cup semi-finals in a month's time as teams keep their pool points for that competition. That means they are behind the ball game with Wanganui and Horowhenua-Kapiti and also with the top two pool B qualifiers, Poverty Bay (18) and Mid-Canterbury (17) but ahead of third-placed pool B side, South Canterbury, who will start on 13pts.
Their current positioning also means Wairarapa-Bush will play just one of their three Meads Cup play-off matches -all of whom will be against the pool B qualifiers - at home.
Saturday's win over Buller by no means represented Wairarapa-Bush's most impressive all-round performance of the season because there were simply too many prime try-scoring chances "bombed".
That a bonus point fourth try wasn't scored in a second half in which holes were regularly pierced in the Buller defence was especially frustrating, even more so when you consider two of the three tries they did score were from individual opportunism rather than good teamwork.
Junior Togia's first of two tries came from an intercept as Buller launched an attack from inside their own territory and then halfback Nick Risdon scored after a Buller clearing kick had been charged down and, rather fortuitously, he was left with no one ahead of him in the chase for the bouncing ball.
So, in reality, only Togia's second try which came at the end of a series of surging runs, mostly by the forwards, had no element of luck about it ... although it too was only awarded after the referee and touch judge had consulted as to whether Togia had touched down while still in the field of play.
It would be wrong, however, to allow any criticisms of Wairarapa-Bush's poor finishing work, valid as they would be, to take the gloss off what was an excellent display by their forwards, perhaps even the best of their current Heartland campaign.
Nothing impressed more than their assertiveness with ball in hand, particularly in the first half when they had the wind in their faces and keeping possession close to the pack was always going to be the most sensible option.
One would hate to think, for instance, just how often No 8 Duncan Law charged his way into and through the opposition defences, both from scrums and mauls. His return from a severe hamstring strain could hardly have been more impressive, and not only because of his aggressive running.He also got through a mountain of work in close quarter defence.
Hooker Ben Pereira was another to delight in the "crash and bash" style of forward play and the same could be said of props Kurt Simmonds and Jared Brock, locks Tomasi Kedrabuka and Andrew McLean and blindside flanker Joss Tua-Davidson. In fact, one 40m burst by Pereira in the first half was probably the most abiding memory from the whole match.
There was a solid look too to the set piece play of the Wairarapa-Bush pack although it would be fair to say the scrum wasn't quite as stable as it has been through most of the season. Still they generally managed to clear the ball well enough from there and with even more precision from the lineouts where Kedrabuka reigned supreme, aided and abetted as he was by the always reliable McLean.
In the loose there was only one team in it with Law, Tua-Davidson and lively openside flanker Chris Senior turning over a wealth of ball for Wairarapa-Bush through their speed to the breakdowns and their ability to stay on their feet while disputing possession in the tackle situation.
Wing Junior Togia was the standout player in a Wairarapa-Bush backline which was a mix of good and indifferent. He didn't get a lot of attacking chances but when he did he almost always made good metreage before being grounded.
Halfback Nick Risdon was guilty of a few wobbly passes but again impressed with his liveliness in general play, both on attack and defence, and there were a couple of likely looking debs in midfield by Sam Mitchell, who was also solid on the tackle.
Buller needed to win and secure a bonus point for four or more tries to have any chance of making the Meads Cup play-offs and understandably they were keen to run the ball from here, there and everywhere.
Unfortunately for them, however, their forwards played second fiddle to their Wairarapa-Bush counterparts and therefore some pacy outside backs seldom got the chance to strut their stuff.
Junior Togia (2) and Nick Risdon scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush and Byron Karaitiana kicked three penalties and two conversions. Jamie Paul scored a late try for Buller who also benefited from two penalties by Marcus Taylor and one conversion by Nathan Thompson.