Newsletter – 1st October 2015

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WBRU Newsletter for the 1st October 2015

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Bush show true talent By Gary Caffell

THE EXCELLENCE of their set piece play highlighted Wairarapa-Bush’s 33-19 beating of Horowhenua-Kapiti in their Heartland championship rugby match, played at Memorial Park, Masterton on Saturday. Desperately needing a win to stay in contention for the Meads Cup playoffs, the home team chalked up their first victory on the artificial turf before a disappointingly small crowd with their most convincing performance of the 2015 season.

It was the dominance of the forwards in the scrums and lineouts which laid the perfect platform for their latest success.

Under the mentoring of a former Wairarapa-Bush skipper in Joe Harwood, the scrum has become one of their main attacking weapons and, through all of the first half and most of the second, the Horowhenua-Kapiti pack were under huge pressure from them in that important department.

Not only did that provide Wairarapa-Bush with quality front foot ball on their own put ins but it also meant Horowhenua-Kapiti were able to make scant progress when they had the feed.

Rookie prop Matt Kawana was the subject of many pats on the back from his Wairarapa-Bush teammates for his contribution to their scrum effort and the return from injury of experienced Kurt Simmonds was also a major plus.

There was a lot to admire too about the accuracy of the Wairarapa-Bush lineout play. Hooker Andrew Makalio consistently found his targets and James Goodger, James Wall and Lachie McFadzean all made a number of clean takes. Horowhenua-Kapiti, on the other hand, often struggled to make their lineout throws count, with poor communication appearing to be the main problem.

It was not only in the set pieces that the Wairarapa-Bush forwards were a dominant force, they also impressed with their mobility in broken play where No8 So’otala Fa’oso’o, flankers Goodger and Brendon Campbell and, as usual, hooker Makalio were all in their element. It has probably been said a hundred times already over the past few weeks, but most backs in the Heartland competition would love to have the attacking flair of Makalio, who scored two of his team’s four tries.

The Wairarapa-Bush backs relished the amount of quality possession given them by the forwards and clearly had the “wood” on a Horowhenua-Kapiti rear-guard which came to Masterton with a big reputation but actually made little impact on proceedings. Halfback Cody Whittaker and Tim Priest varied their play intelligently, midfielders Andy Humberstone and Matt Dalley were assertive both on attack and defence, wings Paul Tikomainavalu and Corey McFadzean ran with purpose and tackled solidly, and fullback Viliami Hala was both nippy and thrustful on the counter-attack.

Horowhenua-Kapiti, for their part, would have expected much better than they produced. They did look dangerous in the opening stanzas, running in an early try for a 5-0 lead, but otherwise they were outgunned by opposition playing with greater intensity in virtually all areas of the game. Their best individuals were flanker Antony Fox and second-five Manaia Osborne.

Andrew Makalio (2), James Wall and Nick Olson scored tries for Wairarapa-Bush, with Tim Priest kicking three penalties and two conversions. Manaia Osborne, Ha’amea Ahio and Antony Fox were the Horowhenua-Kapiti try scorers and Brandyn Laursen kicked two conversions.

In other Heartland matches played on Saturday, West Coast beat East Coast 22-10, Wanganui defeated Thames Valley 47-27, South Canterbury beat King Country 42-14, North Otago edged out Buller 35-34 and Mid-Canterbury beat Poverty Bay 38-27.

Competition points: Mid-Canterbury 27, South Canterbury 25, Wanganui 23, North Otago 18, Wairarapa-Bush and Horowhenua-Kapiti 17, West Coast 16, Buller, King Country and Thames Valley 11, Poverty Bay 10 and East Coast 2.

Wairarapa-Bush play East Coast at Ruatoria next Saturday and will complete their preliminary round play with a match against Wanganui at Masterton the following weekend.

– Wairarapa Times-Age

     

McCarthy Transport Wairarapa Bush Under 16 Hurricanes Tournament Results
Day One: Wairarapa Bush 24 Horowhenua- Kapiti 33
Day Two Wairarapa Bush 7 Wellington Development 43
Day Three: Wairarapa Bush 32 East Coast 20

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Class of 2015 champions

TOPS: The Masterton Intermediate 1st XV with their Super Sport banner.

Back row: Tama Bartlett (left), Robert Rossiter-Stead, Gus Borren, Nathan Shepherd.
Third row: Ben Molesi (assistant coach, left), Jake Jonas, Diamond Karaitiana, Moa Lefata, Toby Crosby, Mark Brown (head coach).
Second row: George Eshenbach (left), Liam Searle, Malachi Te Huna, George Tanner, William Bysouth, Freedie Eshenbach.
Front row: Dhylan Taua (left), Mata Roberts, Dru Molesi (coach), Jayden Calkin-Aporo, William Brown. Absent: Harry Haustein, Tarquin Karaitiana, Tua Levi.
PHOTO/CATHERINE ROSSITER-STEAD

THE Masterton Intermediate School rugby 1st XV have enjoyed their most successful season ever, finishing the year with an impressive playing record of played 10, won 8, drawn 1 and lost 1, scoring 240 points and conceding just 91.

The team have been hard at work training for most of 2015, under the watchful eye of head coach Mark Brown (chairman of the board of trustees at MIS) and his assistant, Ben Molesi. A large squad of hopefuls was whittled down to about 22 after a series of trials early in the year.

Each year, MIS takes part in a sports exchange with Havelock North Intermediate School and this provided the first challenge for the team.

Last year’s match was played at Masterton, with Havelock North winning by more than 100 points, so it was an anxious team that travelled to Hawke’s Bay for the fixture.

Despite slipping behind in the first half, MIS showed tremendous spirit to pull things back, making last-ditch tackles on the sizeable Havelock ball runners, before their superior fitness paid dividends – final score 32-19 to MIS.

The next challenge was the Super Sport competition against intermediate schools from Wairarapa, Manawatu and Wanganui, played this year at Wairarapa College.

This was a stern test for MIS, who had never previously won this competition, but the class of 2015 proved what a special group of players they were with an outstanding series of performances. Victories over Wanganui (31-5) and PNINS (36-0) set up a semi-final against Fielding, who found themselves on the wrong side of a 42-5 drubbing.

The final against Monrad was a nail-biting affair, with number 8 and captain, Dru Molesi driving over from a scrum after the full-time hooter to secure a 21-17 win and see the precious banner hoisted in Masterton for the first-time ever.

This success was followed by a 30-14 away win over Fergusson Intermediate, where once again the MIS team had to dig deep to recover from a first half deficit.

The finale was the Waterman’s tournament at Trentham, where MIS secured the shield after defeating Maidstone 7-0 in the final. Earlier in the day, they had drawn with Hutt Intermediate, lost narrowly to Tawa Intermediate and earned a comprehensive 17-0 victory over Brandon Intermediate.

– Wairarapa Times-Age

2015 Heartland Standings

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