Well beaten but not disgraced

The final scoreline did not tell the whole story when Wairarapa-Bush were beaten 49-0 by a Wellington XV in the annual Jimmy Cotter Memorial Trophy rugby match played before a disappointingly small crowd at Memorial Park, Masterton yesterday.
Their scoring of seven converted tries might suggest a Wellington combination consisting mainly of their union's most promising talent dominated what was an entertaining fixture when, in actual fact, Wairarapa-Bush would have come close to sharing the honours in both territory and possession.
And, what's more, there was precious little between the two teams when it came to intensity of effort either, or indeed in fitness, an area in which the locals were generally expected to struggle.
The telling difference between the two sides revolved around their abilities to finish off their attacking movements.
Whereas Wairarapa-Bush spent many minutes through the course of the game, especially the second half, camped deep inside the Wellington 22-metre line they very seldom threatened to pierce their defence.
On the other hand when tries were in the offing for Wellington they all too often turned them into points on the board, either by exposing deficiencies in the Wairarapa-Bush defensive screen or by simply outflanking them through the sheer pace and acceleration of their outside backs
Interestingly enough it was a member of last season's Wairarapa-Bush Heartland championship-winning squad in Francis Seumanutafa who emerged as perhaps the most effective of all Wellington's attacking weapons.
He made several stirring sideline dashes and looked a menace every time he touched the ball.
His display must surely have him at the head of the Wairarapa-Bush shopping list should Wairarapa-Bush coaches Graeme Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson decide that "imports" are required to boost their side come this season's Heartland campaign.
And, while they are persuading Seumanutafa, to sign on the dotted line they could well make similar offers to others who impressed in the Wellington line-up yesterday ? players like hard-running centre Tu Umaga Marshall, elusive running and neat passing first-five Miah Nikora, nippy halfback Nick Risden, lively flanker Scott Fugistaller and bustling hooker Ged Robinson.
This is not to suggest, however, that few of the Wairarapa-Bush players who fronted up yesterday indicated they could make the grade at Heartland level.
Several of them at least showed they have enough potential to perhaps do a decent job there, and that alone would have been satisfying for coaches Cheetham and Stevenson, who had the mortification of having two of their more seasoned and skilled campaigners in centre Simanu Simanu and lock Tomasi Kedarabuka forced out with injury at the eleventh hour.
Up front, one suspects Cheetham and Stevenson would not have been too concerned at the communication problems which surfaced on occasions at lineout time.
After all their team's preparation had consisted of just the one serious training run and the late absence of the spring heeled Kedarabuka was no help either.
As it was both Cory Reid and Dan Griffin took enough clean takes to earn pass marks in that department and there was effective spoiling work from the likes of skipper Mike Spence, Jared Hawkins and Jared Bambry.
The Wairarapa-Bush scrum actually looked to have the edge on that of Wellington early in the piece and, overall, honours there were about even.
An interesting new face in that sphere was Kurt Simmonds whose ruggedness was always evident, not only there but also in the rucks and mauls.
Of the loosies Spence emerged as one of his team's more penetrative runners in broken play and Hawkins was generally sure on the tackle and quick to the breakdowns.
The Wairarapa-Bush rearguard clearly lacked the zip of their Wellington opposites in an attacking sense, except perhaps for winger Joji Tamani, who made a couple of useful bursts and who impressed with his high workrate, both on attack and defence.
The question marks over the ability of the inside backs to make the grade at a higher level still exist although George Williams was steady enough at first-five through the latter stages of the second half to suggest he could be a useful performer in that role.
He usually found his target with his line kicks, something which others tried at halfback and first-five all too often failed to do.
No one could quibble either at the hard-nosed approach of second-five Jon Guillard on defence and twice fullback Dan White saved almost certain tries by making key tackles.
Fuglistaller (2), Seumanutafa, Marshall, Joe Hill, Maehi Austin and Steven Bradshaw scorted the tries for Wellington and Nikora landed seven conversions.