Royal Occasion at Heartland rugby

It was fitting that the Whanganui rugby public should pay tribute to the late Queen before the Heartland match on Saturday.

The Queen. a dedicated follower and supporter of sport, had visited the same Cook Gardens on January 8, 1954, with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

God Save the Queen, known then as the national anthem, was played by a local brass or pipe band at Spriggens Park on the first Monday morning of June each year before the annual Whanganui v Taranaki rugby match.

The other local feature of the royal birthday weekend each year was the two-day Wanganui Jockey Club meeting on the Saturday and Monday at one of the oldest clubs in the country.

The combination of the rugby and races just over the fence from each other attracted thousands of visitors to the city every year, with special buses and occasional trains chartered (mainly from Taranaki).

The first monarch's birthday (then King's Birthday Weekend) game against Taranaki was actually played here on Friday, June 3, 1910, with the first few games held on a suitable date close to the sovereign's birthday.

In fact, Whanganui played in Wellington on similar dates in 1908 and 1909 until Wanganui and Taranaki came up with the suggestion of the annual morning matches on the first Monday of June each year.

Taranaki won the first five in a row.

Tougher task ahead
Whanganui's Meads Cup rugby hopes slumped at a slippery Cooks Gardens on Saturday when defending champions South Canterbury scored a close but deserved victory in a vital fixture.

It was the first success in seven visits by the southern union since Heartland rugby started in 2006 and by out-scoring Steelform Whanganui four tries to three in the 30-24 victory the southern champions have leap-frogged to the halfway stage lead in the competition.

South Canterbury have now won 13 games on the stretch since taking the title off Thames Valley last year and hold a valuable three-point advantage in the qualifying series.

Whanganui played well at times against strong opposition, leading 21-19 soon after half-time and then 24-22 at the three-quarter mark, but the visitors finished stronger with a penalty from accurate Tasman loan first five Sam Briggs and a try in the dying minutes.

The vital victory will give South Canterbury the advantage of a home field in Timaru for the Meads Cup Labour Weekend final unless winless Wairarapa-Bush, 10th-slotted Poverty Bay, fifth-based Mid Canterbury or 8th-placed Ngati Porou East Coast spring surprises.

To have a chance of claiming a seventh Bunnings Warehouse sponsored Meads title, the blue and blacks (16 pts) now need to collect the scalps of Poverty Bay (10 pts) in Gisborne this weekend, Buller (15 pts) here in a fortnight, Horowhenua-Kapiti (13 pts) and Mid Canterbury (14 pts).

Mid Canterbury and North Otago had an interesting encounter at Kurow last weekend, Mid Canterbury finally winning 40-35 after being locked at 35-all at halftime.

The clash of third-equal Thames Valley and Buller in Westport on Saturday will have a major bearing on the point, especially with Buller here in a fortnight.

Previous match results
Wanganui v Poverty Bay
2021 — Whanganui Whanganui 65-12 Heartland
2020 — Napier Wanganui 41-38 Rep Match
2018 — Gisborne Wanganui 53-0 Heartland
2017 — Wanganui Wanganui 25-14 Heartland
2016 — Gisborne Wanganui 52-30 Heartland
2015 — Wanganui Wanganui 55-23 Heartland
2013 — Gisborne Wanganui 25-21 Heartland
2012 — Wanganui Wanganui 42-3 Heartland
2011 — Gisborne Wanganui 58-13 Heartland
2010 — Wanganui Wanganui 31-24 Meads Cup SF
Wanganui Wanganui 50-34 Meads Cup
2009 — Wanganui Wanganui 48-13 Meads Cup SF
Wanganui Wanganui 56-0 Meads Cup
2008 — Wanganui Wanganui 36-16 Heartland
2007 — Wanganui Wanganui 22-20 Heartland
2006 — Gisborne Wanganui 41-30 Heartland
2005 — Gisborne Poverty Bay 22-14 NPC Div 2
2003 — Gisborne Poverty Bay 36-22 NPC Div 3
2002 — Wanganui Wanganui 47-16 NPC Div 3
1996 — Wanganui Wanganui 19-15 NPC Div 3
1995 — Gisborne Poverty Bay 26-19 NPC Div 3 SF
Gisborne Wanganui 19-17 NPC Div 3
1994 — Wanganui Wanganui 21-13 NPC Div 3
1991 — Gisborne Poverty Bay 26-4 NPC Div 2
1990 — Wanganui Wanganui 32-19 NPC Div 2
1984 — Gisborne Wanganui 40-15 NI Div2
1983 — Wanganui Wanganui 13-4 NI Div 2
1982 — Gisborne Wanganui 24-10 NI Div 2
1981 — Wanganui Wanganui 34-10 NI Div 2
1980 — Gisborne Wanganui 17-12 NI Div 2
1979 — Wanganui Poverty Bay 10-7 NI Div 2
1978 — Gisborne Wanganui 15-7 NI Div 2
1977 — Wanganui Drawn 15-15 NI Div 2
1976 — Gisborne Wanganui 17-7 NI Div 2
1972 — Wanganui Wanganui 19-6
1970 — Gisborne Poverty Bay 17-11
1950 — Gisborne Wanganui 9-3
1937 — Wanganui Wanganui 29-11
1936 — Gisborne Wanganui 13-10
1926 — Gisborne Poverty Bay 10-6
1909 — Wanganui Poverty Bay 3-0
Matches played — 41
Wanganui 32 wins — Poverty Bay 8 wins — 1 draw
Wanganui 1311 pts — Poverty Bay 610
Average score: Wanganui 30-15
Heartland — 15 games
Wanganui 15 wins — For 659 pts, Ag 253 — Average score 44 — 17