Rugby: Disappointing win for Steelform Whanganui

Whanganui played Wairarapa-Bush at Cooks Gardens on Saturday. Photo / Lewis Gardner

"A win is a win" is the kindest way to sum up Steelform Whanganui's disappointing 22-18 Bruce Steel Memorial Cup – Heartland rugby win over Wairarapa-Bush at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.
Admittedly, it was an expected victory in what turned out to be a stop-start affair marred by numerous stoppages, the wind and a whistleblowing referee.
For the visiting Stags it was an acceptable narrow loss after conceding 103 points in the first two rounds, but for the Butcher Boys missing out on pocketing an anticipated bonus point (four tries) could come back to haunt them next month.
Whanganui created a feast of scoring opportunities only to see them "blown" by mis-handling or costly mistakes right on the try-line.
It was little wonder the several hundred supporters and team officials were shaking their heads.

On a brighter note, the narrow victory moves Whanganui from fifth to fourth place going into the halfway stage of the eight-round Bunnings Warehouse qualifying series.
The consolation point the Stags collected moves them off a share of the bottom rung of the points table to 10th spot, one point ahead of Buller and Whanganui's next opponent – the King Country Rams.

That game is at Taupo on Saturday when the Butcher Boys will be seeking to win back the Sir Colin Meads Log, lost 11-16 at Taumarunui last season.
The defeat, the first since a 29-30 loss at Te Kuiti in 2014, followed easy 80-3, 38-19 and 57-19 wins since the Log was first contested in 2017.

King Country has a maze of newcomers this season with former NZ Heartland prop Carl Carmichael by far the most experienced squad member.
So far this year, the Rams have lost 50-19 to NZ Universities and 55-5 to Taranaki B (a side Whanganui beat 53-5) pre-season and 53-25 to Mid Canterbury, 34-17 to West Coast and 77-0 to South Canterbury last Saturday in Heartland games.

It will be only the second time the two unions have played at Owen Delaney Park in Taupo, Whanganui winning the first match 55-22 in 2010, scoring eight tries, including two each from Melville midfield loan back Tau Moeke and Kaierau flanker Darren Munro, with Border first-five Mark Davis converting six of them on his way to a season tally of 109 points.

There will certainly be real concern if the Butcher Boys, with so much backline attacking potential, miss a bonus point again his weekend.
Whanganui may hold only an average winning score of 19-16 in 68 games against King Country since 1933 (35 wins, three draws and 30 defeats), but has averaged 37-17 in the 14 Heartland fixtures (10 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses).

Top-of-the-table South Canterbury, having rolled Buller 48-13, Wairarapa-Bush 61-17 and King Country 77-0, meet ninth-placed East Coast in Ruatoria this weekend, second-placed Thames Valley are away to winless West Coast, and third-positioned Horowhenua-Kapiti meet second-to-bottom Buller in Westport.

With the leading three unions starting as red hot favourites, it is vital that Whanganui collects a five-pointer in Taupo to remain in contention for a possible start in either of the two Heartland trophy finals next month.

Standings with the points differential in brackets –
South Canterbury 15 (156), Thames Valley 15 (63), Horowhenua- Kapiti 14 (22), Whanganui 10 (50), Poverty Bay 10 (33), North Otago 10 (12), Mid Canterbury 9 (23), West Coast 6 (-4), East Coast 3 (-31), Wairarapa-Bush 1 (-80), Buller 0 (-112), King Country 0 (-122).

75-plus rep milestones

Halfback and hooker are two very specialist positions in any rugby team, especially in a national championship competition squad.

Steelform Whanganui, winners of seven Heartland titles since the series started in 2006, have been fortunate to field a few experienced position players in key positions over the past 16 years.

Two of them – Border halfback Lindsay Horrocks and Ruapehu hooker Roman Tutauha – joined the 75-plus club over the past fortnight.

Horrocks achieved the feat when the Butcher Boys went down 17-24 to Mid Canterbury in Ashburton during the second qualifying round of the Bunnings Warehouse 2021 Heartland championship.

Tutauha celebrated his 75th match by scoring two of his team's three tries in last Saturday's 22-18 victory against visiting Wairarapa-Bush at Cooks Gardens.

The pair boost the 75-plus ranks to 26, which now includes six players who have repped for the Whanganui union during Heartland rugby.

There are 13 players with 100 or more appearances headed by former Maori All Black Trevor Olney (146 caps), who was elected a WRFU life member this year. He wore the Whanganui colours over an 18-year span starting in1993, well before the Heartland era.
Horrocks and Tutauha join Ruapehu's former NZ Heartland captain Peter Rowe (120 games), Border-Pirates hooker Cole Baldwin (106) and backs Denning Tyrell (89 - Pirates-Kaierau ) and Ace Malo (85 – Kaierau) as the most capped Heartland-era reps.
Horrocks, a 31-year-old Waverley farmer, the 2015 NZ Heartland Player of the Year and a national rep in 2016 and 2019, has been the union's top string halfback for the past nine seasons.
He made his first-class debut against the visiting Thames Valley Swamp Foxes in 2013 and has helped Whanganui win the Meads Cup in 2016-18 and the Lochore Cup in 2014, scoring 87 points.
Horrocks helped Whanganui draw 17-all with King Country here in 2015 in his 25th rep game, beat South Canterbury 29-24 at Timaru in the 2017 Meads Cup semifinals, and was in the recently beaten side at Ashburton in his 75th match for the union.
Last Saturday's victory was his 50th as a member of a local Heartland team. He has had one draw and 19 losses in the competition, three wins in rep fixtures last year and played in three Ranfurly Shield challenges.
He has started in 64 Heartland fixtures and taken the field as a replacement for Kane Tamou, William Short, Joshua Fifita, Tom Stewart (PN) and Josh Edwards plus for Cameron Davies in a rep game last year.

Roman Tutauha started his rep career in a 51-7 Ranfurly Shield loss to Taranaki in 2012, and he also played in challenges against Waikato (2016) and Canterbury (2017).
The 35-year-old railways supervisor, who like Horrocks won three successive Meads Cups and the Lochore Cup in 2014, played in the shadow of NZ Heartland rep Cole Baldwin but came on as a very reliable substitute 27 times for the Waverley hooker and also as a replacement for fellow Ruapehu rep Karl Parker, Dylan Gallien, Jack Yarral and Junior Tume.
Tutauha, who started 38 times as hooker, enjoyed 53 Heartland successes, played in one drawn game and suffered 18 defeats. There were also three Ranfurly Shield losses.
He was victorious in three notable fixtures during his career, all at Cooks Gardens – 38-24 v Wairarapa-Bush in his 25th game in 2014, 35-14 v Poverty Bay in 2017 in his 50th match, and 22-18 over the W-B Stags in when he led his side onto the field in his 75th match last weekend
Like Horrocks (2016-20-21), Tutauha (2013-17-18) was in three Tasman Tanning local premier club winning teams.

Whanganui's 75-plus match representatives –
146 – Trevor Olney (1973-90)
144 – Graeme Coleman (1973-83)
139 – Bob Barrell (1963-77)
134 – Adrian Bull (1985-99)
120 – Peter Rowe (2003-17)
119 – Bruce Middleton (1974-84)
118 – Andrew Donald (1976-84)
111 – Jerome Nahona (1989-2000)
110 – Guy Lennox (1990-98)
105 – Cole Baldwin (2006-17)
100 – Kerry Whale (1985-98)
100 – Brent Dallison (1975-83)
100 – Jason Hamlin (1992-2001)
91 – John Knofflock (1970-77)
89 – Denning Tyrell (1997-2011)
85 – Ace Malo (2004-17)
84 – David Kereti (1994-2003)
82 – Bruce Hansen (1986-93)
81 – Steve Gordon (1982-90)
80 – Ray Stafford (1971-81)
79 – Peter Stratton (1983-91)
76 – Lindsay Horrocks (2013-21)
76 – Dwayne Kemp (1994-2003)
75 – Roman Tutauha (2012-21)
75 – Kelvin Chase (1981-95)
75 – Jason Caskey (1993-99)
Other plus 70's –
74 – Tom Oldfield (1950-59)
73 – Bill Eriksen (1952-73)
72 – Jon Smyth (2004-15)
72 – Bill Osborne (1973-84)
71 – Budge Lockett (1956-65)
70 – Shaun McDonough (2008-14)
70 – Richard Murray (1976-80)