“He’s got that bit of X factor and belief in himself, and he trusts that and he’s got the skill and the flair to go with it.”
Nikora said the involvement of Poverty Bay openside flanker Keanu Taumata had a “massive impact” and offered a lot to the players on the field.
“His energy and ball carries, and the way he chased down and made tackles . . . both sides of the ball, his energy and attitude were just awesome.
“The boys did really well.”
Nikora said it was a big week for him, too. He was in charge of attacking and the backs, and challenged himself to try to do things better and deliver plans to be implemented to a new set of players.
“It was really cool,” Nikora said.
“I found the guys open and the rugby IQ that we had across the team was really good.
“Sometimes you would set out the strategy as a coach yet take on board ideas that the players had.”
Some of those ideas were really good, and it was great to work with a good group of players and management, he said.
“It made the coaching part of it easy.”
Nikora said that while the team were slow out of the gate against the Baa-Baas on Saturday, he was proud of the effort and commitment they showed to finish the game strongly.
“The fight and the heart the boys showed to come back and win that second half was a good way to finish.”
The Heartland team didn’t score until the 60th minute, when Roberts-Te Nana crossed the line. It underlined the threat he posed for the whole game . . . he played the entire 80 minutes.
It spurred something in the Heartland team as they tried to wrestle their way back into the match.
Replacement second five-eighth Leroy Neels scored back-to-back tries, and winger Fletcher Morgan scored on the fulltime hooter.
First-five Sam Briggs was successful with three of the four conversion attempts.
This concludes the eight-day, two-game campaign, although an international tour of either Japan or Australia has been mooted. The last time the Heartland XV played an international match was in 2019, when Samoa played in New Zealand at Eden Park, winning 36-19. The Heartland XV also travelled to Fiji in the same year. They played two games, winning the first 12-7 at Churchill Park and losing the second 15-7 at Lawaqa Park.
