Stolen from Stuff.co.nz
07 June 2005By KELLY ANDREW and BERNARD CARPINTER
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]As far as excuses go for losing a rugby match, this was a doozey - but the Wairarapa-Bush team was having none of it.[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Just hours after surviving a bus crash near Woodville, when players had to smash windows to escape, they took to the field in Hawke's Bay after deciding the game must go on. The 30-strong squad was travelling from Masterton to Napier in a Tranzit Coachlines bus yesterday to play the curtain-raiser to the Hawke's Bay-Wellington match, when the vehicle skidded and rolled on its side in heavy fog north of Woodville. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The driver suffered a gash to his right calf and was taken to Palmerston North Hospital. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Wairarapa-Bush team manager John Johnston, the police area commander for Wairarapa, said the bus was taking a left-hand bend in foggy conditions when it started to skid. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]After the bus slid on to its side, he looked behind him and saw a tangle of bodies and seats. "Everyone sitting on the right hand-side had fallen on top of the ones on the left. They were a bit shocked - shaken and stirred." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The players had to smash windows and scramble through dense scrub to reach the road. They held a team meeting on the roadside - and unanimously decided to continue on. "It was country rugby at its best," Mr Johnston said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The injured driver even managed to arrange a second bus - before he was taken to hospital - and the team arrived in Napier an hour late and just minutes before the 12.30pm kickoff. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]They lost the match, to a Hawke's Bay 2nd XV, 29-15 but captain Patrick Rimene would not blame the result on the accident. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"I think everything was okay," he said. "We were all focused on the game. But fatigue settled in and we made a lot of errors." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The best he would concede was that shock from the crash probably added to their tiredness and arriving late prevented the team fully warming up. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Vice-captain Rob Foreman said the team was "definitely rattled" by the bus roll-over, but he would not offer that as an excuse for losing. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We had the choice, and everyone wanted to come. We turned up ready to play." [/font]
