Steelform Whanganui go down to South Canterbury in Timaru

Steelform Whanganui's Te Atawhai Mason scored his first Heartland Championship try in his side's loss to South Canterbury. Kate Belsham / Ivy Digital

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They went toe-to-toe for the duration, but Steelform Whanganui again had to lower their colours to South Canterbury, 35-24 at Timaru’s Fraser Park on Saturday.

Similar to the 2022-23 Meads Cup final defeats, it was a low double-digit losing margin which came about from a specific scoring burst from the former champions, although Whanganui came back into the match constantly in the second half.

After conceding an early penalty, Whanganui was holding a 7-3 advantage from the eighth to 30th minutes after young first-five Te Atawhai Mason snatched an intercept to score his first Bunnings Heartland Championship try.

But South Canterbury again proved that once they score, they can pressure their opponents to re-gather the ball and score again.

“We had a seven-eight minute period right before halftime where we went from 7-3 to 20-7 [behind],” said coach Jason Hamlin.

“The game was all pretty fine margins, we lost [lock] Matt Ashworth pretty early in the piece so that had an effect on our lineout time.

“The boys played really well, but they were able to capitalise on a few errors on our behalf.

“If the ball goes to hand, Aleki [Vakarorogo] is 30m out with one to beat and support on his inside and outside him, but it just falls in their hands instead and they go the other way.

“Another try was we were right in their 22m, punishing them, and then more of an error on our behalf and they were able to clear it.

“We had everyone [set for] attacking and they were able to run another 80m to score.

“They’ve got [scoring] bursts in them, and I guess the pleasing thing is at other times we haven’t been able to match that.

“While they got out to a decent lead, we hit back straight after halftime.

“We were matching them for most things, but just the fine margins.”

Winger Harry Symes scored another converted try after the break, fullback Adam Boult again adding the extras, but South Canterbury grabbed another try to regain their 13-point advantage.

Back in the midfield after three Heartland games at winger, Vakarorogo scored his 41st try in 46 games, but South Canterbury popped over a 69th-minute penalty and seemed set to close the game out at 30-19.

Yet winger Mitai Hemi finished off a brilliant team try where the ball passed through several sets of hands with cutting runs and flick offloads, to set up a big finale at 30-24 with six minutes left.

In a go-for-broke moment, Whanganui suffered another intercept trying to move the ball on the last play, denying them at least a second bonus point as the home side scored their fifth try.

“She was a great game to watch. Doug [Horrocks], Samu [Kubunavanua] and Jamie [Hughes] were outstanding – everyone played really well but those three in particular,” said Hamlin of his loose forwards.

“I thought young Ngapuke Patea came on and had a real great shift, the players gave him player-of-day.

“We asked them to play a bit more and not be so narrow in attack as they got in that second half against West Coast, and they certainly did that.

“Defensively, it sounds silly when you leak 35 points, but there was some big hits out there, and they worked really hard.

“But we’re still prone to a lapse or two, and that’s what the level of this footy is - you get found out.”