Kaierau lift Paul Mitchell Cup with shut out of Marist

By Jared Smith

Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau has claimed their second Paul Mitchell Cup in four seasons as leaders of the Tasman Tanning Premier table after the first round.

While Kaierau had the most straight forward pathway to the cup out of the three teams in contention heading into Saturday’s fixtures, few would have expected how decisively they seized the moment – turning it on for a big Country Club crowd on Old Timers Day with a 43-5 pumping of Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist.

Already undermanned with the loss of key prop Keightley Watson and flanker Samu Kubunavanua, Marist had to go without their dedicated skipper Brad Graham, thrusting the captaincy on youngster Jack O’Leary, as they looked to lift again from their emotional win over Byford’s Readmix Taihape the previous weekend.

But in the metaphorical perfect storm on a beautiful warm day, Marist ran into a buzzsaw in the form of a determined Kaierau outfit, who had changed their game-plan around completely from the high-speed, wide channels attack seen in their previous win over McCarthy’s Transport Ruapehu.

Kaierau dominated the set-piece, turning over Marist’s scrums and disrupting their lineouts, thereby starving the visitor’s young speedster backs of meaningful possession.

They then charged hard through the middle corridors, led by props Raymond Salu and Tai Pulemagafa – who complimented each other like twin Sherman tanks, as both they and hooker Joe Edwards completed the set of front row try-scorers.

In the backline, the side lost returning veteran first-five Brook Tremayne early after an unlucky rib injury where he fell on a defender’s knee, but Kaierau merely reset as second-five Sheldon Pakinga moved in and reserve Apolosi Tanoa resumed his midfield position from the previous match.

Pakinga rose to the occasion – getting Kaierau on the front foot with probing runs and offloads, and while only slotting four from eight attempts, two of his misses occurred shortly after taking a heavy blow to the shoulder.

Tanoa likewise had a hand in almost all of Kaierau’s backline tries once they entered the dangerzone, working the likes of fullback Peceli Malanicagi, wingers Peniani Wakatabu and Harry Unsworth and reserve back Carliwyne Riddles into close range so they could pump through their final marker to score.

Lock Matt Ashworth delivered an 80 minute effort while reuniting his two towers combination with Josh Lane, back in the starting XV.

Marist started so well with a text book recycle and spread attack leading to flanker Hamish Broadhead scoring in the corner after only 90 seconds.

But then Kaierau were able to drag Marist back to the middle of the park for a physical arm wrestle, with both teams having a player sinbinned in Tanoa and centre Josaia Bogileka respectively.

Marist’s standouts were their captain O’Leary at second-five, while lock Lake Ah Chong some of the heart others had lacked when he stayed down after a heavy blow, but when helped up insisted on rejoining his team mates rather than come off, despite the lopsided scoreline.

The match was well-supported with barely a spare parking spot to be found, which victorious coach Te Ahu Teki acknowledged.

“The whole day has been awesome. The weather’s turned it on, the people have come out and just glad we could turn it on for our Old Timers.

“[The set piece] was certainly a focus for us this week, and when we get the little things right we can start building some pressure and that’s what happened in the end.

“Our boys did a great job – they’ll enjoy tonight and look forward to next week.

“It’s always cutting for the old timers like Brookey to go down, but Sheldon got on and moved into that pivotal role, and I think he’s evolved in the last couple of weeks where he’s almost a genuine first-five.

“He directed play well for the boys. The one thing we haven’t had in the past is depth, but from No1 to No26, we trust any of those players to go and do the job for us.”

Leading the table by a point over next weekend’s opponent Waverley Harvesting Border, Kaierau will now play their two toughest games at home, and going undefeated at the Country Club would set them on the path of a home semifinal.

“When we go back to the beginning, before our season started, one of our goals was to make this a fortress – it’s one of those places where it’s our holy ground, in a sense,” Teki said.

“One of the goals is to keep the W’s coming all season, and so hopefully we’re on track to do that, and keep that momentum.”

Having had an outside chance of lifting the cup themselves coming into the game, Marist coach Travers Hopkins had to tactfully remind his team that while they were not at full strength, they must find some way to maintain intensity as they did against Taihape.

“It’s reminding the guys that, look, this is a competition, so you can ride the enjoyment of one week, but got you’ve got to follow it up the next week and the week after.

“Once we scored that try, it just kind of went a bit flat. We gave Kaierau some easy exits.

“We’d get into our green zone and not captialise on it, and it just seemed in that first 20 minutes, half an hour, every time they came down our end, they were coming away with points.

“Credit to them, they definitely played more hungry than us.

“The boys just seemed to playing catch-up rugby, so it’s about getting through to them that this is a feeling you don’t want to be in, dare I say, ever again, and you need to use that as motivation.

“We’ve got a few guys out with injury, but we need to be confident in the 22 that we name.

“They did it well in patches, but rugby’s an 80 minute game and it adds up to a performance we’re not very proud of.”

It didn’t start like that, as from the kickoff Broadhead, fellow flanker Ben O’Leary and prop Marius Joseph made good inroads on the carry, before Jack O’Leary charged wide and winger Vilmone Bainbure had a crack, finding Broadhead backing up inside to score.

But Kaierau just strengthened their resolve and drove Marist back into their corners, struggling to escape with their lineout under pressure following clearances, before Pakinga punched a hole through the middle, and although the cover tacklers stopped him, Kaierau spread wide with Tanoa’s long cut-out pass putting Unsworth in at the corner untouched, with Pakinga raising the flags from out wide for 7-5.

A penalty lineout saw Kaierau drive at the line, and although Marist collapsed the maul, Edwards drove close and then Salu was there to push through the last man for a 14-5 turnaround.

Another Pakinga dash had Kaierau back on attack, with Salu all but scoring before winger Cajun Teki-Botica ankle-tapped him, but Pulemagafa was next man there and no-one could stop him from that close.

Kaierau’s pack kept turning or pushing Marist back to secure feed turnovers on either side of halftime, and then the floodgates began to open as Salu put Pulemagafa through a gap, and while stopped on the tryline, each Kaierau front rower had another go before Edwards burrowed over for the bonus-point try.

An attacking scrum saw Tanoa hit the gap and find Malanicagi inside, who carried his attempted tackler the rest of the way to the line.

Running back a shallow Marist box kick, Edwards fed Ashworth, and then the ball went wide for Tanoa to link with winger Peniani Waqatabu, who gassed it to dive in at the corner flag.

With time almost up, Waqatabu returned another kick to beat tacklers, followed up by centre Rusiate Lalanabaravi and Unsworth, before Riddles ran at the opening gap and stepped through to score.

Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau 43 (H Unsworth, R Salu, T Pulemagafa, J Edwards, P Malanicagi, P Waqatabu, C Riddles tries; S Pakinga 4 con) bt Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist 5 (H Broadhead try). HT: 19-5.