Roman Tutauha makes a charge for Steelform Whanganui. Photo / Steve Carle
All is not lost - the Butcher Boys sharpened their knives to produce an early second-spell scoring blitz en route to a much-needed 36-12 fourth-round Heartland Championship rugby victory over West Coast at Cooks Gardens on Saturday, September 2.
Three converted tries within 10 minutes while the potentially-dangerous Coasters were a man down, due to a sin binning, turned a 12-3 deficit into a 24-12 lead to set up the welcome victory.
Centre Alekesio Vakarorogo’s hat-trick (55, 61, 76 minutes), after earlier tries from fellow midfielder Timoci Seruwalu (46 minutes) and flanker Jamie Hughes (51 minutes) plus a first-half Dane Whale penalty (six minutes) and four conversions, provided Whanganui’s scoring.
The five championship points boost Steelform Whanganui from eighth place on the 2023 Bunnings Warehouse Heartland points table up to fourth equal, alongside North Otago, their next opponents this coming Saturday.
The North Otago Old Golds (+53) may have a +30 points differential advantage over the Butchers, but at least Whanganui are back in the hunt for a Meads Cup semifinal start, thanks to the second-spell recovery last weekend.
Despite superb ground conditions at Cooks Gardens, there was one of the smallest attendances for several years, but this was not surprising considering Whanganui’s substandard away efforts against both Buller (13-5 win) and King Country (23-17 loss) at Westport and Taumarunui the previous two Saturdays.
And judging by most of the form in the opening 46 minutes last weekend, with far too many solo efforts and another nightmare of penalty goals conceded, the hosts looked in trouble yet again.
The sudden flood of scoring, set alight by Seruwalu’s try, was the spark Whanganui needed to initiate the scoring ability within the squad.
As a result of winning on Saturday, the Butchers leapfrog over East Coast, Wairarapa-Bush and Poverty Bay, who all suffered losses, on the points table and suddenly enter the second half of the qualifying series in a far healthier situation.
Defending Meads Cup champions South Canterbury (20 points) luckily came away with a 26-22 away win over North Otago (12 points), second-placed Thames Valley (18 points) held off King Country (5 points) 27-21, third-positioned East Coast (15 points) scrambled to pip bottom of the table Buller (2 points) 24-21, Mid Canterbury (9 points) also won by three points, 23-20 over Poverty Bay (8 points) - and Horowhenua-Kapiti (4 points) claimed a first scalp with a 24-19 home victory against Wairarapa-Bush (11 points).
Apart from Whanganui’s 24-point triumph, the highest other winning margin was only six points.
Now, hopefully, the Butcher Boys can repeat Saturday’s form this weekend because North Otago at home have been a real stumbling block for Whanganui.
The two unions have the best records in Heartland rugby, which started in 2006, with Whanganui winning six Meads Cup finals (2008/09/11/15/16/17) and were runners-up in 2007-10-19-22), also winning two Lochore Cups (2014/21).
North Otago claimed Meads Cup success in 2007/10/9 and were runners-up in 2013, claiming Lochore Cup honours in 2017/19 and were also runners-up in 2014/15/21.
All of North Otago’s three Meads Cups were won on home soil against Whanganui - 25-8 in 2007, 39-18 in 2010 and 33-19 in 2019.
Whanganui beat the Old Golds twice in Lochore Cup finals - 14-12 at Ōamaru in 2014 and 22-16 on Cooks Gardens in 2021.
The two unions have played 33 times since 1930, with Whanganui winning 24 times, including nine of 15 Heartland fixtures, but North Otago have won six of 10 Heartland home games.