Talking rugby with John B Phillips: Crunch time looms for Whanganui

Steelform Whanganui are third equal in the Heartland championship competition. Photo / Lewis Gardner

If Whanganui and North Otago are to have any chance of winning a Bunnings Warehouse Heartland title this season, they both badly need a victory from their clash at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.

They are now third equal, along with Mid Canterbury, going into the seventh and penultimate qualifying round of the championship.

With unbeaten South Canterbury (30 points) and Thames Valley (28) looking almost certain to contest the Meads Cup final, the battle is on to find the next two unions to play off for the Lochore Cup.

There is also a trophy at stake between the fifth and sixth qualifiers.

Whanganui have a differential of 96 points, North Otago 24 and Mid Canterbury 19, but if teams are level at the end of qualifying, the victors of the game(s) between those sides decide the qualifiers.

Points differential swings into operation if more than two sides are level pegging. This year Mid Canterbury have beaten Whanganui 24-17 and North Otago beat Mid Canterbury 32-20.

A Whanganui win on Saturday would bring differential into the equation if the three unions end up with the same number of championship points.

This weekend, top-of-the-table South Canterbury (maximum 30 points) host neighbours Mid Canterbury (20), and in the last qualifying round travel to Greymouth to meet seventh equal West Coast (17).

The Swamp Foxes (28) have two home matches in Te Aroha – bottom-slotted King Country (1) and Whanganui (20).

North Otago (20) meet King Country in the last round and Mid Canterbury are home to second-to-bottom Buller (7 points).

Clearly, the pressure is on the Butcher Boys after the disappointing 14-28 loss to South Canterbury last Saturday in Timaru.

Conceding four converted tries for a halftime deficit of 28-0 is the second equal worst start by Whanganui in 144 Heartland matches since 2006.

The 2013 reps, under different coaches, also conceded 28 first-spell points against Buller in a Lochore Cup semifinal at Cooks Gardens before losing 30-40.

Most points conceded during the opening 40 minutes were 31 to Mid Canterbury at Ashburton in 2017, with the hosts finally scrambling home 40-39.

The Butcher Boys have only had two hat-tricks scored against them in 14 years of Heartland rugby – by Chris Taiahoa (North Otago) in a 15-27 loss at Oamaru in 2013, and by South Canterbury's Sireli Buliruarua last weekend in his union's 1100th first-class match.

Consistent performers

Saturday brings together locally the only two unions who have qualified for semifinals in every Heartland championship since the series started in 2006.

Mid Canterbury were also in that category before slipping to second to bottom (11th) in the last competition in 2019.

Whanganui, with six Meads Cup titles and the 2014 Lochore Cup, have the best overall championship record, while North Otago have won three Meads and two Lochore Cup finals.

The Butcher Boys have been beaten in five Meads finals and the Old Golds in the 2013 Meads and two Lochore finals.

Whanganui have qualified in the top four 12 times, missing out on Meads medals only once when third in 2018. The other medal failure was finishing third in the 2013 Lochore semis.

The records of Whanganui and North Otago in Heartland post-section play with home teams mentioned first and their qualifying positions in brackets:

Whanganui
2019 – Meads Cup – SF: Thames Valley (1) 15, Whanganui (4) 20. Final: North Otago (2) 33, Whanganui 19.
2018 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (1) 7, Thames Valley (4) 17.
2017 – Meads Cup – SF: South Canterbury (1) 24, Whanganui (4) 29. Final: Horowhenua-Kapiti (2) 14, Whanganui 30.
2016 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (1) 58, Wairarapa-Bush (4) 26. Final: Whanganui 20, Buller (3) 18.
2015 – Meads Cup – SF: Mid Canterbury (2) 11, Whanganui (3) 26. Final: South Canterbury (1) 11, Whanganui 28.
2014 – Lochore Cup – SF: King Country (1) 6, Whanganui (4) 17. Final: North Otago (3) 12, Whanganui 14.
2013 – Lochore Cup – SF: Whanganui (2) 30, Buller (3) 40.
2012 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (2) 23, Wairarapa-Bush (3) 20. Final: East Coast (1) 29, Whanganui 27.
2011 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (1) 32, Mid Canterbury (4) 22. Final: Whanganui 30, East Coast (3) 10.
2010 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (2) 31, Poverty Bay (3) 24. Final: North Otago (1) 39, Whanganui 18.
2009 – Meads Cup -SF: Whanganui (2) 48, Poverty Bay (3) 13. Final: Mid Canterbury (1), Whanganui 34 (at Christchurch).
2008 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (1) 40, West Coast (4) 16. Final: Whanganui 27, Mid Canterbury (2) 12.
2007 – Meads Cup – SF: Mid Canterbury (2) 12, Whanganui (3) 18. Final: North Otago 25, Whanganui 8.
2007 – Meads Cup – SF: Whanganui (1) 30, Mid Canterbury (4) 17. Final: Whanganui 14, Wairarapa-Bush (2) 16.

North Otago
2019 – Meads Cup – SF: North Otago (2) 27, Wairarapa-Bush (3) 25. Final: North Otago 33, Whanganui (4) 19.
2018 – Lochore Cup – SF: Wairarapa-Bush (2) 30, North Otago (3) 21.
2017 – Lochore Cup – SF: West Coast (2) 24, North Otago (3) 14.
2016 – Lochore Cup – SF: Mid Canterbury (1) 24. North Otago (4) 36. Final: King Country (2) 22, North Otago 44.
2015 – Lochore Cup – SF: Horowhenua-Kapiti (1) 12, North Otago (4) 57. Final: King Country (3) 47, North Otago 34.
2014 – Lochore Cup – SF: South Canterbury (2) 12, North Otago (3) 16. Final: North Otago 12, Whanganui (4) 14.
2013 – Meads Cup – SF: North Otago (2) 44, Wairarapa-Bush (3) 38. Final: Mid Canterbury (1) 26, North Otago 20.
2012 – Meads Cup – SF: East Coast (1) 26, North Otago (4) 15.
2011 – Meads Cup – SF: North Otago (2) 17, East Coast (3) 23.
2010 – Meads Cup – SF: North Otago (1) 40, Mid Canterbury (4) 24. Final: North Otago 39, Whanganui (2) 18.
2009 – Lochore Cup – SF: North Otago (2) 21, King Country (3) 17. Final: West Coast (1) 13, North Otago 21.
2008 – Meads Cup – SF Mid Canterbury (2) 38, North Otago (3) 24.
2007 – Meads Cup – SF: North Otago (1) 30, Wairarapa-Bush (4) 13. Final: North Otago 25, Whanganui (3) 8.
2006 – Meads Cup – SF: Wairarapa-Bush (2) 25, North Otago 19.

'Devastating player' dies

The captain of the Whanganui team that made the 1959 British Lions toil for a tight 9-6 victory at Spriggens Park has died in Australia at the age of 82.

John Staines, then a staff sergeant at the Waiouru Military Camp, led the Butcher Boys in a close 11-17 Ranfurly Shield challenge against Taranaki in New Plymouth, and four days later came within three points of upsetting the touring British Isles side.

Staines, later to become major in the army, had represented Canterbury and Nelson plus New Zealand Services before arriving at Waiouru as a PT instructor for intakes of young soldiers.

He was smartly drafted into the Whanganui representative rugby squad by Taihape selector Laddie Transom and under coach Noel Bowden, a Taranaki 1952 All Blacks fullback, Staines played 23 times for the union between 1959-1962.

Although there were some talented players in the squads, including national trialist lock Bill Eriksen and loose forwards Ron Horton and Rodger Green plus Māori All Black Bill Eriksen, Whanganui struggled at times during the Staines era.

Surveying the 1959 season, the NZ Rugby Almanack stated Staines "provided the team with a grand captain, he was a fast and devastating player, ever on the ball, and a real leader".

Commenting on the Lions fixture – "A game Whanganui could have won if it had the ability to finish off opportunities being presented in the backs."

Hooker Jack Karatau (Marton Athletic) scored a try for the hosts, with Hunterville winger Brian Boswell kicking a penalty goal to the delight of the 19,000-strong crowd.

The Lions won 20 of 25 matches during the three-month tour, winning the fourth and last test 9-6 at Eden Park after losing the first 17-18 at Carisbrook when NZ fullback Don Clarke landed six penalties, the second 8-11 at Athletic Park and the third 8-22 at Lancaster Park.

The 1959 Whanganui team that played so well in the Shield challenge and against the Lions was Stan Crawshaw, Brian Boswell, Trevor Spencer, Shaun Crowley, Budge Lockett, Paul McAndrew, Brian Upston, Trevor Stent, Ron Horton, Bill Eriksen, Dick Hurn, John Staines (captain) Peter Irvine, Jack Karatau, Bill Reweti.

Crawshaw, Crowley and McAndrew were backs who received media mention for playing well against the Lions, as did forwards Staines, Horton, Stent and Eriksen.

In the Ranfurly Shield challenge, Reweti and Lockett scored tries and Boswell kicked a penalty and conversion.

Whanganui have also lost another dual-union rep from the 1950s with the death of Wellington and Whanganui winger Brian Battell.

He was a prominent local auctioneer (Coull-Battell) and businessman who played as a three-quarter for the Tech COB club and twice for the 1956 Whanganui reps who beat NZ Combined Services 8-3 but lost to King Country 3-11, both at Spriggens Park.