Junior players welcomed players from both teams to the field for the Ranfurly Shield match at Levin Domain, and played games during the halftime break.
It’s a funny old thing as a rugby fan when your team gets a bit of a hiding and you walk away from the ground with a skip in your step.
The Ranfurly Shield match between Wellington and Horowhenua-Kāpiti at Levin Domain was always going to be a tough watch - even if you went to bed the night before dreaming of a miracle.
Such is the chasm between professional and Heartland rugby, the 68-7 final scoreline was probably what your sensibilities had suggested. But, as in life and in sport, one must always hold on to hope.
With the Shield dream dashed, the next best thing would be to see a Horowhenua-Kāpiti player score a try in a Ranfurly Shield match, to see the impenetrable Wellington wall breached.
Because that, when the size of score is long forgotten, is what will be remembered.
It took until the 77th minute. There hadn’t been too much to cheer about for Horowhenua-Kāpiti fans until then. There was some courageous tackling - they were giving it their best shot - but the class and strength of Wellington was evident from the outset.
Having to suffer through 10 tries and almost as many conversions, and with time up on the clock, it looked as though the home team weren’t going to trouble the scoreboard.
With time ticking down and the Levin Domain lights turned on, Horowhenua-Kāpiti threw whatever they had left at the opposition, despite having tackled themselves to a standstill. They mustered one last-gasp attack at the Wellington line.
Forwards were hurling themselves at the brick wall with purpose, as they had all game, and still it would not yield. But with the crowd willing a try for the home team, the ball got to young winger Malaki Masoe in space.
The 20-year-old apprentice builder made no mistake and crashed over in the corner. He was immediately congratulated by his teammates, who deserved to share in any kudos. The crowd clapped and cheered.
Despite the heavy loss, with time up on the clock the try had brought a smile to Masoe, his team, and the home crowd. Replacement halfback Jack Tatu-Robertsson converted the try from the sideline to get his name in the scorebook, too.
Masoe downplayed the try. He said he only had to run “about five metres”. It was his first game for Horowhenua-Kāpiti, one of several players on debut. He was the only player from his Levin Wanderers club in the team.
It was a piece of Ranfurly Shield magic that will be the enduring memory for Masoe.
Wellington, who by the way were also the current NZ Provincial champions, were sublime in snubbing out any suggestion of an upset within the opening minutes of the match. Class players like Asafo Aumua and Peter Umaga-Jensen showed why they were a force at Super Rugby level.
The Wellington forwards were a tough nut to crack at ruck time. They had a noticeably more dominant scrum early on, too. With the early penalty count in their favour and a couple of early tries, the Shield was back in the bag after 15 minutes.
Aiden Morgan had to kicking boots on for Wellington, nailing nine conversions, many from out wide.
Wellington had five debutants score tries - Isi Saumaki, Louis Northcott, Joe Faleafaga, Sam Clarke and TJ Clarke.
It would have been a familiar feeling for Northcott. He score three tries in his last match at the ground, but that was when he was playing for Horowhenua-Kāpiti. The speedster was the most promising player in Horowhenua-Kāpiti last season and made the move to Wellington at the start of this year.
Referee Natarsha Ganley became just the second woman after former Black Fern Rebecca Mahoney in 2019 to referee a Ranfurly Shield fixture.
Wellington hooker Aumua was given a yellow card by Ganley in the 42nd minute for a head-high tackle which took the legs away from Horowhenua-Kāpiti first five-eighths Hamish Buick, but he bounced back up again straight away.
For Wellington to bring the shield up the road to Levin Domain ensured a 3000-strong crowd and the occasion made headlines in the local paper. It was just the second Ranfurly Shield match to be played at Levin Domain.
The match was more than a game of rugby. It was an occasion for local fans to see high-quality players in action. Landing in the middle of a school holiday helped with crowd numbers, and junior rugby matches were held at halftime.
It was the third major rugby game held at Levin Domain this year, after a Hurricanes pre-season match against Crusaders and the first-ever Hurricanes Poua game at the ground, who played Chiefs Manawa in February.
HKRU chief executive Corey Kennett said while the games were of no financial benefit to the local union - they actually cost money to stage - the benefit to the local community was a factor that needed quantifying.
“We have staged those games at a considerable loss, but we go into it with our eyes wide open. Whatever happens it’s money well spent because our community and our young people get a chance to see some of the best athletes in the country competing,” he said,
Kennett said he was grateful to match sponsors Mills Albert, and the Wellington Rugby Union for allowing the match to be played at Levin Domain. Entry was free for schoolchildren.
“There were 3000 people at Levin Domain on a Wednesday afternoon and a majority of those were young people,” he said.
“The players themselves, too, to be able to play a Ranfurly Shield match in front of their families and their friends. They could be proud of the way they played. They stayed in the fight and stuck to the task.”
The match was somewhat of a family affair for Wellington coach Tamati Ellison, whose brother Leon played a fine game at halfback for Horowhenua-Kāpiti.
Where a normal rugby match at Levin Domain would see a lone photographer with a notepad in his pocket, the Ranfurly Shield match drew a media contigent seldom seen at the ground, with a throng of photographers - even a cameraman on a scissor lift.
The perimeter of Levin Domain resembled a paddock with heaps of electric fence tape and iron standards dictating where blue-vested media photographers could and shouldn’t go.
There was a corporate tent at the northern side of the ground where a new stand and administration block is being built.
SCORES
Wellington 68 (Sione Halalilo, Hugo Plummer, Asafo Aumua, Isi Saumaki (2), Louis Northcott, Joe Faleafaga, Sam Clarke, Kaliopasi Uluilakepa, TJ Clarke tries, A Morgan 9 con) Horowhenua Kāpiti 7 (Malaki Masoe try; Jack Tatu-Robertsson con). HT: 35-0
- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.
