No fairytale ending

TRYLINE IN SIGHT: Ngati Porou East Coast blindside flanker Hone Haerewa dives across the South Canterbury line for a try five minutes before halftime in a Heartland Championship game at Whakarua Park, Ruatoria, on Saturday. South Canterbury won this match, in the last weekend of round-robin play, 45-7. Pictures by Paul Rickard

VERDON Bartlett had no fairytale ending to his 60th game for Ngati Porou East Coast. South Canterbury beat the Coast 45-7 at Whakarua Park, Ruatoria, on Saturday, ending the round-robin section of rugby’s Heartland Championship in top spot. But first five-eighth Bartlett was unbowed.

“It’s always an honour to pull on the Sky Blue jersey, and today is no different,” he said. “Win, lose or draw, I love playing for the Coast.”

The performances of Bartlett, wingers Jayden Milner and Epeli Lotawa, fullback Kris Palmer, loosehead prop and skipper Perrin Manuel, flankers Hone Haerewa and Paddy Allen, and hooker Kareti Palmer enhanced their reputations.

“It would have been nice to win, but South Canterbury showed why they are at the top of the table,” Bartlett said.

At times they did. In the opening 32 minutes, the visitors raced to a 26-0 lead, with second five-eighth Loni Toumohuni bagging a hat-trick. Toumohuni secured the bonus point when centre Vatiliai Tora, who looked and played like a Heartland version of former All Black Ma’a Nonu, dotted down a try.

But the Coast started making their tackles, and five minutes before the break Haerewa was rewarded with a try following a good lineout take from lock Manaia Nyman. For much of the second half, the Coast took the game to their opposition. Co-coach Wayne Ensor said the Coast had chances to make it a closer contest.

“We bombed three good opportunities to score tries, including one just after halftime when, if we’d closed the gap to 26-14, it was game on,” he said.

But, as so often this season, the bounce of the ball did not go the Coast’s way. Three minutes after the Coast should have scored, South Canterbury had the throw-in to a lineout 10 metres from their own line.

Haerewa soared above the intended target and palmed the ball back on his team’s side. Unfortunately for the Coast, the ball sat up perfectly for Canterbury hooker Marac Beckham, who burst forward 10 metres before unleashing a huge punt. Blindside flanker Leone Nawalu won the foot race and stretched the gap to 31-7. First-five Jared Trevathan converted.

Back came the Coast, but again try-scoring chances were squandered. Two South Canterbury tries in the last five minutes blew out the score.

“Our tackling, or lack of it, in the first half didn’t help, especially first-up tackles, which allowed South Canterbury to get good go-forward,” Ensor said. “But we (he and co-coach Troy Para) were happier with the second-half performance, apart from the tries we blew. We played well in patches; not so well at other times.”

Milner, in particular, was exempt from any tackling criticism. The slightly built winger had a stormer on defence and was easily his side’s best performer. Kris Palmer also did a lot of tidying up at the back. His anticipation, bravery and speed helped launch several counter-attacks that stretched South Canterbury. Haerewa, Allen and Kareti Palmer, as they have done all season, put their bodies on the line time and time again.

Nyman, in his first season at this level, showed glimpses of his potential. Tighthead prop Pera Bishop got the crowd going with some strong runs, while Rhys Walker (lock), No.8 Parekura Lalaga, centre Te Peehi Fairlie and second-five Sailosi Vatubua had their moments.

Vatubua blotted his copybook on two occasions when he failed to pass after good breaks, one of which came shortly after Canterbury opened the scoring. With Lotawa outside him and no one between the big Fijian and the tryline, Vatubua tried to beat the last man and the ball was turned over.