West Coast put 50 on Buller

via Bill Phillips - Greymouth Star

West Coast turned on the sunshine and the scoreboard on Saturday, running out easy winners 68-7 over neighbours and long-time rivals Buller in a pre-season Heartland Rugby Championship game.
Coast led 33-0 at half-time and finished with 10 tries over the Westport visitors.
The home side at John Sturgeon Park in GreYmouth looked pretty good for the full 80 minutes (broken into four quarters) as they put their combinations and moves into game time action. The scoreboard ticked over consistently as the tries mounted.

West Coast centre Malakai Cagi scored first wide out as the backs got into a good rhythm. First-five Cam Burgess was successful with the conversion.
Mitch Gibson was next over for the Coast as the flanker ran down the grandstand touch, pulled off a nice sidestep and scored close to the posts. Burgess again converted and then showed his footwork and pace as he went over himself this time, wide out after a dash down the grandstand side.

Returning West Coast Heartland player Gordie Lloyd went over next as he detached from the back of the scrum and barged his way to the try. Burgess again added the extras.
Quick thinking halfback Jin Ho Mun took a tap penalty and caught Buller napping as he dived over to score. Burgess was on-song again as he converted, taking West Coast out to 33-0 at half-time.

West Coast looked slick throughout the first 40. The ball was well circulated around the paddock as they ran great lines at the opposition. Good energy was shown across the turf and they backed up each other well.
The second half got under way and Buller were right on attack. Devlin Platt got them on the board immediately as he crashed over next to the posts, and first-five Matt Soper added the conversion 33-7.

West Coast No 10 Naki Saumaki struck back for the home team straight away. He juggled the ball a couple of times as he secured it and stretched out to score near the posts. Kane Parker was on the spot to add the conversion.
Buller were again on attack and Brad Ferguson went close to the line down the touchline. Coast retained the ball, however, and Benny Vauvau came up with a big run up the middle. He evaded one tackle then turned to face a Buller player, who crunched him to the ground. The ball went backwards and got into the hands of Coast forward Logan Winter who ran 40m to score. Parker added the conversion to get the score to 47-7.

Cagi scored his second soon after this with a 25m dash to the line, and Parker again converted.
Saumaki also dotted down for his second of the day for Coast, and Parker again added the two points.
Still not done, Coast scored again as they ran the ball from their 22. Rynhardt De Waal had a big hand in this one as he ran the touchline for ages and flicked the in pass to Saumaki who dotted down for his hat-trick. Parker, with his trusty left foot, added the extras again.

This was the end of the scoring and West Coast ran out deserved winners by 68-7. Visiting referee John Whitcombe returned to his hometown and controlled the game well.
West Coast Heartland head coach Jared Mitchell will be well pleased with his squad. They ran well all day, distributed the ball and supported the ball carrier. Their next hit-out is another pre-season clash with Tasman under-19 in Murchison.
The Heartland opener is set for August 16, at home in Greymouth against King Country.

West Coast 68 (M Cagi 2, M Gibson, C Burgess, G Lloyd, J Ho Mun, N Saumaki 3, L Winter tries; C Burgees 4, K Parker 5 con) Buller 7 (D Platt try; M Soper con)

West Coast put 50 points on Buller

PICTURE: Bill Phillips, DiGiSPORT - West Coast forward Logan Winter on his way to scoring a try.

Image via Bill Phillips - Kane Parker was five from five with the boot on Saturday.