Jack Yarrall takes the ball up against Taranaki in last year's Ranfurly Shield challenge. Wanganui return to Hawera on Saturday to face Taranaki Development XV in their preseason opening game.
Jack Yarrall takes the ball up against Taranaki in last year's Ranfurly Shield challenge. Wanganui return to Hawera on Saturday to face Taranaki Development XV in their preseason opening game.
It will be a double header of Wanganui vs Taranaki rugby with shields on the line at the TSB Hub in Hawera on Saturday, as a Steelform Wanganui emphasising their younger players will get their preseason underway with a big hit-out against Taranaki Development XV.
Meanwhile, just across the wayon the Hicks Park rugby fields, an experienced Whanganui Maori outfit with some Heartland rugby veterans will be trying to pry the Tuera Shield off Taranaki Maori.
Wanganui coach Jason Caskey has spared the likes of incumbent captain Roman Tutauha, prop Gabriel Hakaria and lock Sam Madams to join the Maori ranks to try and regain the Tuera, which they won in 2016 for the first time since 1989, only to lose in the last two seasons by just four and five points respectively.
Meanwhile, the main Wanganui side are looking to hang onto a little silverware of their own, as the 2016 squad claimed the Jones Brothers Shield by upsetting Taranaki Development 43-12 on their way to a great season with a strong Ranfurly Shield challenge to Waikato and becoming the "Heartland Invincibles" by winning the Meads Cup unbeaten.
Caskey spoke to the Taranaki coach and said both teams will be looking to use around 28 players.
"A few of the more senior guys are getting a rest, and there's the Maori game as well."
Traditionally, the Jones Brothers Shield was played between the full Taranaki NPC team and Wanganui on Queen's Birthday weekends, but the advent of professional rugby grew a gap between the neighbour unions which made that feature game die out in the 1990's.
The TRFU decided to put the shield on the line through their Development XV in 2016, keeping alive the history of the fixture to honour the three Jones brothers, who played representative rugby on both sides of the border from the late 1940's to early 1960's.
There are some noteworthy family connections in the Taranaki lineup as well.
Out wide will be Meli Naholo, brother of the two Taranaki wingers playing Waikato on the same day – Kini and former All Black and Wanganui player Waisake.
In the loose forwards, one has to stop on the name of Blade Barrett, the youngest brother of the extraordinary sporting family that has produced All Blacks Beauden, Scott and Jordie.
Brett Landers is an solid first-five in both fifteen-a-side rugby and Taranaki sevens. Even with the leading Taranaki players facing Waikato, Caskey agreed the Development XV would put up the stern test he was looking for.
"Dead right, they'll be pretty handy.
"It will let us see if the guys we want are up to the job."
Spread across the Wanganui and Maori teams are 16 players who were involved in last weekend's 100-minute Division 1 club final between new champions Byford's Readimix Taihape and Waverley Harvesting Border.
Halfback Lindsay Horrocks on his previous game in Hawera last year.
Most will be fronting, with one notable exception being hooker Dylan Gallien, who did not train this week after injuring his leg in the first half of the final.
Caskey is still well blessed with plenty of front row talent with good depth at prop and hooker, but there are a couple of other spots where players can stake their claim.
"Locks are wide open at this stage, as is the midfield and to some degree, outside backs."
There are 10 players from the 2016 game in the current wider squad, although a few of them will be playing for Wanganui Maori on Saturday.
It was Wanganui's first win over a Taranaki team of any kind in 31 games since 1987, and since 2001, Wanganui has only played Development or 'B' teams, aside from their mandatory 2012 and 2018 Ranfurly Shield challenges.
The game kicks off a solid preseason as next weekend Wanganui will take on the Hawke's Bay Saracens away, then the following Saturday face Wellington Development at Cooks Gardens.
Their 2019 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship campaign starts on August 24 against Wairarapa-Bush in Masterton.
The Jones Brothers Shield is in memory of Maori All Black front rower Bevan Jones, inside back Peter and halfback Graeme.
