McCarthy’s Transport Ruapehu are running out of runway to lift off and remain in the WRFU’s top division as Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist showed their class with a big 60-15 win at Spriggens Park on Saturday.

Scoring ten tries to three, Marist’s speed to reach the fringes in the first half, where they ran up nearly a half century of points, was truly impressive, especially as they took a ‘no risk’ approach by resting certain standout players who have picked up injuries in the last fortnight.

Lock Rongomai Mclean-Wanoa continues what could truly be his breakout season as he covered not only the tough stuff against an always rugged Ruapehu pack, but also showcased his speed and offload skills across the park to have a hand in so many key plays.

Marist’s outside back three had the platform and the wind at their backs to cause havoc, and they didn’t disappoint – American import winger Jacob Barry scored a hat-trick, including an excellent chip and chase, while laying on assists for his opposite, Ioane Hough-Aki, to get a double.

Fullback Dominic Devine attacked the fringes with impunity and had lots of goal-kicking practice, finishing with a 15-point haul.

Other standouts were hooker Atriane Marino with a double, while in the absence of two injured halfbacks, Wineti McDonnell stretched his versatility to cover the No. 9 jumper, while Paiki Ponga took over as chief playmaker at first-five.

Come the second half, with the change of ends and hurt pride propelling them, the predominantly young Ruapehu team finally began to shut down Marist’s rapid transfers and got back to their preferred game of solid carries through the middle.

The Te Riaki brothers – centre Tahatika and try-scoring flanker Te Orangi – were excellent in both halves of football while reserve halfback Archie Harding unleashed his speed to score two tries, with the second being a straight 75m drag race after stealing a loose ball at the back of an attacking Marist scrum.

Mathematically, seventh-place Ruapehu still have a slim chance of ‘beating the drop’ as the sixth team, Silk Audit Ratatier Championship grade, coach Chris Winter is thinking long term.

“We’re stoked with how the boys are going, especially how young our team is, and we’ve had seven or so injuries during these games.

“But the boys who have stepped in and come to training, it’s been good – a good learning curve and good for the future.

“Probably us adapting to [Marist’s width attack] a lot quicker would have been better for us today.

“I thought the second half, the attitude changed a bit, the boys actually came on and played well – it was good to see.”

Marist coach Steelie Koro concurred despite the big scoreline.

“Don’t take anything away from Rua; they got a good, young team, and I believe in another year or so they’ll probably be the team to look out for.

“They stayed in the fight and came back in the second half, so credit to them.

“Game of two halves, and I said to the boys – ‘when ball’s stick, you start trusting the game plan that we set out,’ and we’re playing the rugby we want to play.”

Koro was delighted that, despite a few chops and changes with certain players, the first-half attack flowed so well.

“During the week, it was a bit of a headache, trying to work out how to keep connections and keep the same game plan with a few people not playing.

“But it gave us a good look at certain players, obviously – Wineti playing halfback and coming up from Celtic, so that was a big void to fill, and a couple of other young fellas putting their hands up.

“It’s good to see we got some depth.”

Koro also heaped praise on McLean, who should no longer be Marist’s best-kept secret.

“He’s playing some great rugby, and is still trying to find his feet too because naturally he’s a loosie, but still filling the void in the lock position, and that’s the benefit we have with our players – versatility.”

Ponga took charge early with a line break and chip ahead to the far corner, with Barry coming back on the second bounce to snatch it and score, Devine adding a good conversion.

The forwards then had their say. Following a couple of penalties, Marino charged over off a quick tap for 14-0 in 12 minutes.

Ruapehu replied through the Te Riaki brothers as Tahatika made a good line break, and when the cover caught him just short, the ball was transferred out to Te Orangi to score on the fringes.

Marist just lifted up another couple of notches off their set piece, following a penalty lineout, the pack drove on McLean-Wanoa and transferred back to Marino to dive in on the blindside, and then from an attacking scrum, Barry joined the backline for the extra man overlap and put Aki clear down the touchline to bring up the bonus point in just 25 minutes.

Second-five Shaun O’Leary made a strong run into Ruapehu’s half, and from a penalty at the breakdown, he took a quick tap to keep going, with McLean-Wanoa taking off from the ruck down the blindside to race to the tryline corner flag.

Marist’s ability to get from one touchline to the other fringe was too quick for Ruapehu, which was on show again, as after a penalty for a late tackle on Barry, a quickly spread ball saw Ponga run through a half-gap, and when scragged popped the pass up for Aki to dive over.

The hits just kept coming as from the restart, Barry got the ball on the far touch and this time could chase his chip kick to collect the high bounce in-goal and dive quickly to get it down before the dead-ball line for a spectacular try.

Ruapehu looked shell-shocked as a penalty had them back in their danger zone, and Marist swept to both sides before Devine just bumped his way through two tacklers to cross the try line and head back towards the posts for a simpler conversion at 48-5 on halftime.

But the river of points was finally dammed with the change of ends, while Marist also started to make personnel changes, and Harding caught them napping as he regathered an overthrown lineout and took off on an angled run to clear defenders and score a surprise try.

Marist now had to work harder to get into attacking position, and when the ball was bobbled at the back of a scrum, Harding came through again to steal in and take off for a 75m foot race, Barry closing on him but not enough to stop the try in the corner and raise hopes of securing an important Ruapehu bonus point.

But it was not to be as finally in the 70th minute Marist found the tryline again, as following an attacking lineout the ball was transferred to the near side touch and Devine fended off his marker and committed the cover to put Barry over clean in the corner for his hat-trick.

Impact reserve Ratu Epeli Delasau thought he had scored when he got put clean through a gap to the posts, only to be called back for a Ruapehu scrum, but it was only a temporary reprieve as, following a Marist 5m scrum, Delasau pulled himself through two tacklers to get his try with less than a minute remaining.

 Marist 60 (J Barry 3, A Marino 2, I Aki 2, R Mclean-Wanoa, D Devine, R Delasau tries; Devine 5 con) bt Ruapehu 15 (A Harding 2, T Riaki tries). HT: 48-5.

By Jared Smith