King Country come to Cooks Gardens this Saturday, looking to take home the Colin Meads Memorial Log. Photo / Bevan Conley
Steelform Whanganui emerged as a regional inter-island national champion side as well as sharing the early lead in the 2022 Heartland NZ competition with a 43-19 victory over West Coast at Westport on Saturday.
The game, played on a brand-new $100,000 John Sturgeon Park surface, was a clash between the West Coast regional champion unions of the two islands.
Thanks to a 24-0 fired-up start and holding the hosts scoreless in the second spell, the Butcher Boys, holders of the Bruce Steel Memorial Cup, comfortably beat the new Seddon Shield winners six tries to three.
It was the second-top score and second-highest winning margin of the six opening-day qualifying fixtures in the Bunnings Warehouse championship.
Ironically North Otago, runners-up to the Butcher Boys in last year's Lochore Cup final here at Cooks Gardens, lead the competition after a 35-5 televised Sunday night victory over Wairarapa-Bush in Palmerston North.
A few Heartland fixtures are being televised live this year, including the Whanganui v Mid Canterbury game at Cooks Gardens on October 8.
South Canterbury and Thames Valley were also televised last weekend in a clash of last season's Meads Cup final in Timaru, with the hosts made to work hard for a 23-17 victory compared with 35-16 in the 2021 final.
In other first-round matches last Saturday, Buller (11th last year) upset Mid Canterbury 35-29 in Westport, Horowhenua-Kapiti beat East Coast 32-14 at Ruatoria and King Country beat Poverty Bay 30-22 in Te Kuiti.
For new Whanganui head coach Jason Hamlin it was a great start to his career in charge of the most successful union in the 16-year history of Heartland rugby.
Whanganui may have started as firm pre-match favourites on the TAB but West Coast, despite never having won a Heartland title, can prove troublesome at times, and this was clearly evident on Saturday when the red and whites recovered from conceding two dozen early points to quickly reduce the lead to 24-19.
They did the same against the visitors on the most recent visit in 2018, wiping out a 14-0 score to lead 21-14 soon after half-time, only to eventually lose 33-21.
Coast had conceded more than 20 points before coming back to lift the Seddon Shield 28-26 off Nelson this month.
Whanganui were clearly concerned when the hosts closed to within 5 points on Saturday, especially under pressure in the second spell.
But errors of the first half, especially some shoddy missed tackles, were eliminated and Whanganui finished stronger, running in three second-spell tries.
It was the ninth victory in 11 Heartland games against the Coasters and the 19th success in 22 games since 1985, with Whanganui sitting on 39-14 overall and 42-16 Heartland average winning scores.
Fine opening day record
Whanganui continued its impressive Heartland opening day record with the 24-point winning margin over West Coast on Saturday.
It was a 13th first-day success in 16 years and a second win from three early visits to the South Island, the other being 24-23 v Mid Canterbury at Ashburton in 2012.
The sole first-up loss on southern soil was 18-31 to South Canterbury in 2014.
There have been two opening-day defeats to North Island unions — 16-17 against the King Country Rams on Cooks Gardens in 2013 and 18-28 v the Wairarapa-Bush Stags at Masterton in 2019.
Whanganui have won 10 of 11 home opening-weekend fixtures, including during the first six years of the competition, which started in 2006.
The only away first-round games for the Butcher Boys have been to Ashburton, Timaru, Levin, Masterton and now Westport.
Whanganui have scored 610 points and conceded 246 for an average game score of 38-16, including 94 tries for and 21 against.
The three highest first-round efforts were all on Cooks Gardens — 79-7 v Wairarapa-Bush in 2017, 74-5 v West Coast in 2016 and 71-6 v East Coast in 2008.
Most tries on opening day were 11 against Thames Valley here in 2006 (65-18) and against East Coast two seasons later.
Whanganui's opening day Heartland record and tries scored —
2006 — Beat Thames Valley 65-18 (11 — Home).
2007 — Beat East Coast 28-0 (4 — Home).
2008 — Beat East Coast 71-6 (11 — Home).
2009 — Beat King Country 46-6 (8 — Home).
2010 — Beat South Canterbury 13-6 (1 — Home).
2011 — Beat King Country 50-19 (7 — Home).
2012 — Beat Mid Canterbury 24-23 (2 — Ashburton).
2013 — Lost to King Country 16-17 (1 — Home).
2014 — Lost to South Canterbury 18-31 (3 — Timaru)
2015 — Beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 39-34 (6 — Levin).
2016 — Beat West Coast 74-5 (10 — Home).
2017 — Beat Wairarapa-Bush 79-7 (10 — Home).
2018 — Beat South Canterbury 21-10 (2 — Home).
2019 — Lost to Wairarapa-Bush 18-28 (3 — Masterton).
2020 — No Heartland Rugby.
2021 — Beat Poverty Bay 65-12 (9 — Home).
2022 — Beat West Coast 43-19 (6 — Westport).
Summary — Played 16, Won 13, Lost 3. Points for 610, Conceded 248, Differential plus 362. Tries scored 94, Conceded 31, Differentia 63. Average score 38-16. Average tries 6 for 2 conceded.
Pinetree's Log the target
With King Country celebrating their centenary this season, the Rams are heading to Cooks Gardens this weekend with winning the Sir Colin Meads Memorial Log as the main target.
It will not be an easy mission because the Rams are coming off their worst-ever Heartland season without a single success in 2021.
The maroon and golds lost all nine matches last year, being forced to use a massive 47 players, including 20 new caps, because of Covid-19 travel restrictions around the Waikato region.
There are a number of recruits for the championship campaign this winter with the Rams starting off on the right foot with a 30-22 home victory against Poverty Bay in Te Kuiti last weekend.
That was a tonic win because the Bay, who won the new Bill Osborne Taonga last year by finishing fifth with a 33-26 victory over Mid Canterbury, had scored eight tries in beating the Rams 50-26 in Gisborne last year.
In a lead-up fixture this month, King Country held North Otago, who finished fourth last year when shaded 22-16 by the Butcher Boys in a close Lochore Cup final on Cooks Gardens, to 24-26 in Taupō.
In another close warm-up game Taranaki Māori just held off King Country 48-45 in Te Kuiti.
Whanganui were to have played King Country in the union's official centenary game, at Taumarunui on April 23, but it was called off because of Covid regulations.
Now the Thames Valley Swamp Foxes meet the Rams in the centenary game at the Taumarunui Domain on Saturday week.
Saturday will be the sixth time the Meads Log will be contested with Whanganui ahead four wins to one — a record 80-3 in the inaugural 2017 fixture on Cooks Gardens, 36-19 at Te Kuiti in 2018, 57-19 here in 2019 and 48-13 at Taupō's Delaney Park last year after losing 11-16 at Taumarunui in 2020.
The two unions have met 15 times in Heartland fixtures, with Whanganui winning 11, King Country twice and there have been two draws,
The average game score is 38-16 to Whanganui.
Since 1933 there have been 69 first-class fixtures, with the Butcher Boys ahead 36 wins to 30 with three draws. The average match score is 20-16 to Whanganui.
Although results over recent seasons clearly favour Whanganui on Saturday, King Country have proven in three close fixtures this month that their Rams have a chance to lift the Meads Log in the union's centenary year.
Winners clashing
There are three Heartland matches involving first-round winning unions this weekend, including Whanganui v King Country at Cooks Gardens.
Top-ranking South Canterbury come north to tackle Horowhenua-Kapiti in Levin, while North Otago are home to Buller in Oamaru.
Thames Valley and West Coast will be under the live TV spotlight in Te Aroha, Poverty Bay have an inaugural defence of the Osborne Taoga against Wairarapa-Bush in Gisborne and Mid Canterbury host East Coast at the Ashburton Show Grounds.