Apolosi Tanoa scored two tries in Whanganui's half against the Manawatū Evergreens. Photo / Kiwi TV
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It was a good start to the pre-season for Steelform Whanganui with a win and a draw from their parts of the Game of Three Halves at a wet Cooks Gardens on Saturday.
The “shadow” Bunnings Warehouse Heartland squad got payback for last year’s loss to the Manawatū Evergreens with a 28-0 shut-out in the second half, while the wider squad members who played the third half got a good lesson on needing to finish with composure, after a last-minute comeback by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) saw them snatch a 12-12 draw.
The NZDF, who will be sending a squad to the World Defence Rugby World Championships in France in August, showed a lot of heart to come back in both their fixtures, although a string of penalties and two yellow cards meant they left their run a little late in the first half with the-then fresh Evergreens, who prevailed 10-7.
Whanganui are looking to cultivate depth, and in regards to the Heartland Championship, it was pleasing to see they are absolutely stacked for props.
Young veteran Gabriel Hakaraia started and finished each half, while Keightley Watson looked fresh, burrowing in for a try against the NZDF, as did former Collegiate captain Konradd Newland.
Raymond Salu and Emmanuel Wineera also held up their end well, and in between them the hookers, in cast-iron veteran Roman Tutauha and young prospect Alesana Tofa, were mobile on the fringes.
In the first half especially, captain Dane Whale wanted to position his proven veterans across the park to assist the new-look midfield, with Tutauha and vice-captain and flanker Jamie Hughes, which worked very well until he had to come off with a significant knee injury, in a major snag to the campaign.
Samu Kubunavanua came on and kept up the momentum, as the bigger Evergreen forwards began to tire out and Whanganui found lots of open pastures to run, with the wet weather temporarily clearing.
Playing without Alekesio Vakarorogo, currently in Fiji, and Timoci Seruwalu, who had a back injury in the Manawatū Rugby Union club final, the new combination of Apolosi Tanoa and Silio Waqalevu impressed with lots of broken tackles - Tanoa scoring a double.
Indeed, Whanganui had good service at halfback even without Lindsay Horrocks and the withdrawn Kahl Elers-Green, as Eben Classen played the first half and scored a good try off a superb long run by winger Tiari Mumby while, after initially missing selection, Winslin Klassen looked assured in the second half.
Lock Peter-Travis Hay-Horton scored the other try against the Evergreens, who were out on their feet by the end of their second straight half, while fellow lock Matt Ashworth carried the can for a full 80 minutes, joined in the second half by Brad O’Leary, just filling in before he flies out to Ireland as cover for Josh Lane.
The slight concerns for Whanganui are in the loose forwards now that Hughes is absent, with Ranato Tikoisolomone playing blindside flanker after all but one club game at prop this season.
In addition, promising youngster Josefa Namosimalua still does not have clearance on his head injury from club rugby.
Doug Horrocks played the full match at No 8, and assumed unofficial captaincy status after Whale came off in the second half against the NZDF.
Whanganui were leading 12-0 at the time with the clock counting down, but with most of the leading players subbed, the wider group just couldn’t quite keep the military men off them, losing midfielder Josiah Bogileka to a yellow card for a high tackle with three minutes left, and the Defence Blacks found the gap in the line to score seven points on fulltime.
Whanganui coach Jason Hamlin was still happy overall with the effort.
“It was always of interest to us as management and a coaching group, what this first one was going to be,” Hamlin said.
“We haven’t had as much as a lead-in and build-up as we quite wanted, but there was quite a bit of intent there.
“They were working for each other, they were eager, they were keen - the things we were asking for around mana and attitude.
“The nature of these games where you’re chopping and changing and trying to give people that exposure, there’s always going to be a dip in things and we probably suffered for that.
“Our discipline in the end suffered for that in our second half and that last try was an issue of somebody not being on the same page.”
The loss of Hughes will really hurt, given Kubunavanua may have work commitments during the Heartland campaign and Namosimalua is not yet cleared.
“We’re trying not to let that effect us as a whole, but I thought they adapted well , they tried their structure,” Hamlin said.
“Did we always get it right? Probably not, but we got people hitting the ball at pace in that first half, and I was happy for what I saw out of them.
“Classen, I thought he played very well in his first representative fixture, and you see the benefit of Gabe being in the squad for this period of time - he [debuted as an] 18-, 19-year-old and now he’s in his mid-20s, and it’s just the experience level he brings there.
“Keightley, the experience of having last year behind him, he’s now got some confidence around him and what he can physically deliver for us, and it’s just nice to see PT running around.
“Matty Ashworth’s working with him, and Doug Horrocks was really, really good today as well - he probably would have just assumed that [acting captaincy] mantle.
“[I] keep telling them, ‘the hard work’s only just starting for us as a group’, and we’ll get back to work on it, review it, and we’ll show them and we’ll try and get better the next game.
“We’ve got a couple out next week already, so we’ll see what we’ve got when we get up to Taihape, and hopefully we’ll be in a position to release a couple of the under-20s boys for that week so they can play in that [HYC Heartland Series] as well.”
The coach could not be happier with the propping group.
“Young Konradd, when he came on, we thought ‘wow’,” Hamlin said, as they thought that Tikoisolomone might have to cover at loose forward, and they didn’t have Hadlee Hay-Horton yesterday.
“Emmanuel played well when he came on, showed some good footwork around the fringes with his running, he’s a smart young footballer, and when you’re talking to him, he knows what you’re saying and can go out and put that into practice.”
Watching the Evergreens was another exercise in spotting ex-pat Whanganui players.
Their try-scorers against the NZDF were 2022 Whanganui import prop Bradley Fountain, and Turbo fullback, the former Cullinane old boy Adam Boult.
The 2021 Whanganui winger Joeli Rauca and former locals in first five-eighths Kody Edwards and reserve Dominic Broadhead featured.
Manawatū Evergreens 10 (Bradley Fountain, Adam Boult tries) bt NZDF 7 (Ben Gunn try; Tiatoa Te Ariki con).
Whanganui 28 (Apolosi Tanoa 2, Eben Classen, Peter-Travis Hay-Horton tries; Sheldon Pakinga 4 con) bt Manawatū Evergreens 0.
Whanganui 12 (Konradd Newland, Keightley Watson tries; Pakinga con) drew with NZDF 12 (Angus White, Hami Tamati tries; Cam Gerlach con).