We lost the match but not our pride

Mobil Carterton Wairarapa-Bush lost no caste in their 90-19 thumping by Vodafone Wellington in their Ranfurly Shield challenge rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton, yesterday.
To score three tries of their own and keep the scoreline below the dreaded three figures while spending most of the 80 minutes without the ball and hard on defence spoke volumes for the tenacity of the home team.
No one could ever question their endeavour as they did their level best to stop the wave of Wellington players coming at them in attack after attack but they were simply not big enough, fast enough or skilful enough to make any closer a game of it than they actually did.
The ever-mounting scoreline was a classic example of the huge gulf existing between the top provinces in the country and those playing at Heartland championship level.
The days when the Davids just might grab the odd victory over the Goliaths are gone, perhaps the greatest indictment of all of the professional age and an absolute tragedy as far as that most iconic of rugby trophies, the Ranfurly Shield, is concerned.
For the Wairarapa-Bushes of the rugby world the "log o' wood" is now a trophy to be looked at but never won.
It wasn't as if Wellington were at anything like full strength yesterday either.
In fact, they had just the one Hurricanes Super 14 player, wing David Smith, in their starting line-up and a handful of others in the reserves.
Mostly their side consisted of academy and well-performed club players who are all paid to play the game and who benefit from a strict training regime aimed at having them graduate to the very highest levels of the sport.
In that environment a new-look and somewhat inexperienced Wairarapa-Bush side with just the two warm-up games under their belt was always going to come a distant second.
No other outcome was remotely possible.
Despite the dominance of Wellington in all avenues of play the large crowd, whose numbers brought back memories of the glory days of the 1980s when Wairarapa-Bush were playing in the premier league, were in good humour and understandably so.
They were thoroughly entertained by the visitors whose forwards had a clear edge in the set pieces of scrum and lineout, turned over ball on a regular basis in the mauls and tackle situations through a mix of brute strength and good body position and were almost unstoppable on the "pick and go".
If one wanted to be critical of the Wellington backs you could point to the four or five prime scoring chances which went by the board through passes being rushed or the ball carrier going a metre too far but, generally, they were a classy unit.
Space was created time and again by slick running and equally slick ball movement.
Wellington scored 13 tries in all but, not surprisingly, though it was the three tries scored by Wairarapa-Bush which were greeted with the biggest cheers
The first came from a scrum close to the Wellington line with No 8 Duncan Law detaching himself with ball in hand and surging with great determination to the line.
Byron Karaitiana converted what was to be the home team's only scoring act in a first half at the end of which they trailed by 45-7.
Replacement flanker Joe Feast had only been on the field a minute or two when he scored try number two for the locals.
It came after a kick was charged down and Feast was on hand to receive the ball deep inside the Wellington 22m and no defenders to beat.
Karaitiana's conversion attempt was wide on this occasion.
The third and final Wairarapa-Bush try was perhaps the most spectacular of the whole match. Wellington were hot on attack and looked set to score themselves when wing Nick Olson grabbed an intercept and set out on a long 90m dash to the other end of the field. He never looked like being overhauled and dived under the posts, leaving Karaitiana with the easiest of conversions.
It was appropriate that Law and Olson should be among the try-scorers for Wairarapa-Bush as they were two of their best performers on what was a particularly hard day at the office.
Law was always willing to run the ball back at the opposition whenever the opportunity arose, and invariably got himself over the advantage line while doing so, and his tackle rate in close quarter play was enormous. If any one individual epitomised the gustiness of his team's overall effort it was him.
Olson didn't get a lot of chances to demonstrate his attacking qualities but he was busy looking for work all game. Seldom did he get halted by the first tackle and he managed to pull off two try saving tackles of his own.
Also shining for Wairarapa-Bush up front were loosies Joss Tua-Davidson and Jared Hawkins who, like Law, were forced to demonstrate their defensive skills on numerous occasions around the fringes of the mauls. Their courage was never in question.
Of the tight forwards hooker Willie Leota and lock Brandon Young were probably the pick, more for their hard graft than anything else.
In the backs the inside combination of Zeb Aporo and Byron Karaitiana had little opportunity to show their play making skills because of a dearth of quality ball but there was a lot to like about their calmness under pressure. Karaitiana's hefty punting was especially impressive and he continues to grow in the pivotal role of first-five.
David Smith (2), Chris Middleton, Mark Reddish, Scott Fuglistaller, Matthew Leamanu, Anthony Bradshaw (2), Api Naikitini, Charlie Ngatai, Jason Woodward (2) and Marika Kau scored tries for Wellington, the 13 being the most they have ever scored in a Shield match. Fa'atonu Fali kicked one penalty and nine conversions and Daniel Kirkpatrick kicked two conversions.
Duncan Law, Joe Feast and Nick Olson scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush and Byron Karaitiana kicked two conversions.
In curtain-raiser matches played on the No 1 ground Wellington Police beat Wairarapa Police 24-19 and the Wairarapa College first XV beat Dannevirke High first XV 19-10.