The Butcher Boys in action against a Wellington Development XV at a sodden Cooks Gardens a couple of seasons ago. Photo / Merrilyn George
If last weekend is any guide then Steelform Whanganui can expect a feast of action against the Hawke's Bay Development XV at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.
While the Butcher Boys celebrated an eye-popping record 53-5 romp over the Taranaki Development side in Hāwera, the Magpies' B reps were thrashing King Country 70-12 at Taupō.
Thus Whanganui can expect really strong opposition from the same rampant HB Development XV in the second of three Heartland championship warmup fixtures.
Thankfully, the Butcher Boys will be playing on home turf before a local audience and hoping for a third scalping of the Bay at the venue.
Whipping Taranaki was a tremendous start to Whanganui's preparation programme for the fast-approaching Bunnings Warehouse championship series, but the way the HB Development players took King Country apart – 70-12 compared with 61-5 last season – is a clear indication of the strength of Saturday's visitors.
Last year the Bay beat the Butcher Boys 36-12 in Napier, a fortnight before King Country lifted the Sir Colin Meads Pinetree Log 16-11 off Whanganui at Taumarunui.
Regaining that trophy – at the same ground in the final Heartland qualifying round on October 9 – is a target for the locals this winter.
The immediate task for Whanganui is to play well in the two remaining non-first-class matches, this weekend and then against Wellington's Development reps at Porirua on Saturday week.
Whanganui will benefit by facing the backup squads of arguably the three strongest premier unions in the lower North Island, valuable experience for the eight newcomers to the current Steelform squad.
The Bay union is going through a golden revival – Ranfurly Shield holders as well as winning the national second division championship last season – and the provincial Development XV is an important support component as the Magpies return to the leading NZ Division 1 ranks this year.
Several members of Saturday's squad helped the black and whites hammer North Otago 85-5 and East Coast 93-5 in recent Ranfurly Shield defences on McLean Park.
Whanganui has twice beaten visiting Bay XVs, then under the name of the HB Saracens, winning 15-6 in 2015 and 41-19 the following year, and also 33-12 in 2017 and 36-17 in 2019, both at Napier.
The Bay has twice won the early season fixtures – 34-19 on a 2018 visit and 36-12 at home last year when they thrashed East Coast 81-24 and King Country 61-5.
As Ranfurly Shield holders and gaining promotion to the Top Seven championship ranks this season, Hawke's Bay have recruited a few key players and this has helped boost the strength of the Development XV squad ranks.
Saturday may not be first-class status, but local coaches Jason Caskey and Jason Hamlin, although obviously delighted with the Hāwera performance a week ago, now have the chance to further develop team strategies and player combinations against what will be strong opposition.
On the same day the Magpies play Ferdinand along the highway at New Plymouth in the opening round of the NZ Div 1 premier championship a week out from defending "The Log" against Otago on McLean Park in the first defence of the season.
The Taranaki-Hawke's Bay Div 1 clash on Saturday will be interesting. The teams met twice last season, the Bay scrambling home 34-33 in Inglewood but by an easy 59-23 at McLean Park a week later in the divisional semifinal, before beating Northland 56-24 in the final to gain promotion to the top grade for this season.
Whanganui host Horowhenua-Kāpiti in the first qualifying round of the Heartland championship at Cooks Gardens on Saturday, August 21.
In preparation matches last weekend, Thames Valley beat North Harbour Development 24-21, Poverty Bay beat Wairarapa-Bush 36-31, Northland B beat East Coast 66-14, South Canterbury beat Southland Country 50-0 and NZ Marist Colts beat West Coast 24-21.
When Whanganui beat Taranaki Development XV 53-5 to regain the Jones Brothers Shield in Hāwera last weekend, it was the first time that the Butcher Boys have posted a 50-plus-points score in 131 years of senior rep rugby in the Mountain Province.
The previous highest score was 43-16 in 2016, again on Hicks Park, and was also against a Taranaki Development XV.
Whanganui's highest score in first-class fixtures in the province was 28-9 at New Plymouth in 1929.
Taranaki's highest loss to Whanganui was 56-3 at Spriggens Park in 1919, when Dick Phillipson (Wanganui Pirates) scored five of Whanganui's 16 tries.
Ferdinand teams have occasionally pounded Whanganui over the years with record scores of 88-5 at Hāwera in 2005 and 84-0 here in 1995, a year before the Spriggens Park fire, but the Hāwera performance last weekend was a treat for the River City supporters.
Whanganui have beaten Hawke's Bay 10 times in 45 first-class games between 1901 and 2005 and Marist winger Solomon Su'a scored tries in the last three victories.
Su'a, who started his 39-match rep career with Marist in 1986 and switched to Pirates for his last year in 1990, scored a try along with All Blacks halfback Andrew Donald and John Karatau when the Butcher Boys won 19-15 on Spriggens Park with Matene Love kicking and two conversions in 1986.
That win by the Ken George-coached side was the first victory over the Magpies since a 16-11 home win 49 years earlier in 1937.
Whanganui had also won 8-0 in Hastings the previous season in 1936.
Su'a also scored a try along with John Hainsworth (2), Martin O'Connell and Steve Gordon, with Dion Maua landing and three conversions when HB returned to Wanganui in 1988.
Whanganui were second to Thames Valley in the NPC Div 3 championship that season under coach Larry Graham, who claimed another HB scalp when his unbeaten champion NPC side won 20-19 in a non-championship game at Hastings.
And again Su'a scored a try as did Gordon, Marewa Paranihi and Peter Thomas, with Dennis Ngatuere kicking two penalties.
The Butcher Boys beat eventual runners-up South Canterbury 24-21 at Timaru in the round-robin series with Gordon (2), Su'a and Jerome Nahona scoring tries and Kelvin Chase converting them all.
The two unions played two Ranfurly Shield matches with the Bay winning 36-3 at Hastings in 1926 and 39-15 at Napier in 1934.
The last first-class fixture between the two unions was an NPC Div 2 match that Hawke's Bay won 43-15 at McLean Park in 2005 with the Magpies winning that national title, a year before the Heartland championship started.