Coast lose tough game to Wairarapa-Bush

West Coast lock Benny Vauvau with a great lineout win.

Bill Phillips

Wairarapa-Bush took the spoils against a gallant West Coast outfit in round four of the Bunnings Heartland Rugby Championship on Saturday.

In a tight match-up between the two teams, West Coast had a slender 14-12 lead at half-time, but a fired-up Wairarapa Bush came out a different team in the second half and kept Coast scoreless for the next 40 minutes while they ran in two second-half tries to win a classic game by 24-14.

The northern visitors started with a strong wind advantage, and the first 20 minutes were evenly matched. Both sides looked strong up front, and the defence was uncompromising. West Coast were under pressure halfway through this spell, as Wairarapa-Bush spun the ball wide and employed their forwards with good gains.
The Coast defence stood tall, and Wairarapa-Bush pushed it wide again, and then out of nowhere, West Coast winger Malaki Cagi came up with an intercept on his own 22 and ended up scoring down the other end of the field. The deadlock was broken. First-five Kane Parker, with a good kick in tricky wind conditions, had the home team 7-0 up.

A few minutes later West Coast were in again, as Isi Saumaki broke through the defence and was away up the middle of the park on a big run. As the Wairarapa-Bush players rallied their defence, Saumaki passed to his winger Rynhardt De Waal, who stepped slightly and waited for the northerners defence to overrun past him, then took off to the line to score with a nice dive to boot. It was a smart piece of rugby thinking by De Waal. Parker, again with a great kick in the conditions, had Coast up 14-0 with 12 minutes left till half-time.

About 10 minutes later Wairarapa-Bush were inside the Coast 22 again, looking dangerous as they desperately wanted to get on the scoreboard. Their big forwards smashing into the Coast defensive wall for several attacks, and finally their big lock Malakai Biumaiwai reached out to score by the posts. First-five Jack Eschenbach made an easy conversion and the score halved to 14-7 with time almost up in the first 40.

West Coast were then awarded a penalty, and sadly it was not cleared properly. Wairarapa-Bush had a feed to the lineout, and the hooker Lewis Bush had all his forwards around him as he came up with a pushover try that was unconverted. This saw them right back in this game with the half-time score West Coast 14, Wairarapa-Bush 12.

Tries to Wairarapa-Bush winger Fiula Tameilau soon after the restart, and then just before full-time by big lock Cody Cunningham, saw the northerners home in a second half that they dominated. They peppered the Coast defence consistently, with their forwards paving the way with big runs at the line. Coast did not back off for a second, taking big hit after big hit. A solid red and white line held steadily for long periods of time. They only conceded two tries against a big outfit and can hold their heads high as they weathered a constant storm.

Referee Ben Alexander handed out three yellow cards on the day -- two to West Coast and one to Bush.
West Coast head coach Jarrod Mitchell said: "It's an old cliche, but a game of two halves. Both teams played really well into the wind. We were guilty of giving away too many penalties. We will regroup as we have a massive challenge against Horowhenua Kapiti for the Bill Osbourne Taonga next weekend."

West Coast head north this weekend's clash, this time playing Horowhenua Kapiti at the Levin Domain. Coast now sits third on the ladder with three wins from four games.

West Coast 14 (M Cagi, R De Waal tries; K Parker 2 con) Wairarapa-Bush 24 (M Biumaiwai, L Bush, F Tameilau, C Cunningham tries: J Eschenbach 2 con).

Isi Saumaki, West Coast centre, in full flight. His run led to another try for the home team.