Wanganui's Jim Seruwalu tangles with Taranaki's outstanding youngster Kini Naholo during their practice games at Kaierau Country Club on Saturday.
After hunkering down in their Kaierau Country Club bunker, the Wanganui Sevens team hopes their fitness camp and three tough practice games against Taranaki will stand them in good stead for Rotorua this coming weekend.
The three Saturday fixtures were in the middle of the full weekend camp where the 14-man Wanganui squad trained from Friday morning through to yesterday afternoon with hill runs, gym work, pool recovery sessions and team bonding through meal times and sleeping on mattresses in the club rooms.
In front of coach Ace Malo and his support team, the 14-man extended squad were pressing their claims to make the final 12 for the upcoming Bayleys Sevens National Tournament in Rotorua.
Splitting into two training groups, Wanganui was to play the Taranaki team three times, on the hour from 11am to 1pm on Saturday.
However, bringing a 13-man extended squad instead of 14, Taranaki got a little banged up in the second match of the day, with two players helped off injured, and so they requested the third match start immediately to get it out of the way and be one 10-minute half instead of 14 minutes with two halves.
Wanganui started the day strongly as Taranaki had to score at the death of the first game for a 3-3 draw, or 15-15, given no conversions could be attempted following tries as the Kaierau field did not have the goal posts up.
The home side began to drop off tackles when they had to play the end of their second match with six men, and it told in the 5-0 (25-0) hammering.
However, Wanganui showed better cohesion at the end of the shortened third game, especially Taihape-raised Manawatu import George Stratton, earning a 2-2 (10-10) draw.
As the muggy midday weather got warmer, captain Tremaine Gilbert said he was happy to just get the third match over with, and it was "better for me" to be shorter.
Having missed the Friday training regime due to work commitments, Gilbert joined the squad for their early Saturday morning 5km run before breakfast, and agreed the weekend was a good way to test endurance, as he knew from experience how tired the body gets come the second day of matches in Rotorua.
"The hammies and the quads start tightening up so a little extra work never hurts.
"We've still definitely got things to work on...but we've made improvements.
"We've got a tough pool [in Rotorua] but I think we can be competitive."
It was a hard workout to have Taranaki's young but talented side flying at them for 38 minutes, led by two pairs of brothers in former New Zealand Sevens representatives Jackson and Lewis Ormond, as well as the Naholo boys – Meli and especially the powerful Kini – who are the younger siblings of former Steelform Wanganui player and All Black Waisake Naholo.
Wanganui were without Samu Kubunavanua (in Fiji) while Te Atuarere Albert was out in unfortunate circumstances after standing on a sharp dog bone on Boxing Day, with the foot injury becoming infected.
Ngamatapouri's Sheldon Pakinga-Manhire came in for the weekend, while another Manawatu-based player in Ollie Brosnahan had his chance to impress and looked great in Game 1.
With both teams avoiding lineouts until the third game, the kickoffs were where each tested their jumpers, with Wanganui's Hamish Bennett having a good start with a clean take.
However, Wanganui couldn't advance the ball before losing it, and Taranaki's explosive midfielder Liam Blyde spotted a big gap which he dashed through and turned on the gas to score.
Wanganui's defence held on the second raid, forcing a forward pass, and Osea Tairogi looked to sneak through, supported by Bennett.
The ball was spun wide and Brosnahan backed himself to get outside his marker and dive over in the tackle.
Good midfield defence from Grayson Tihema then forced another turnover and Wanganui spread the ball for Brosnahan to get free and grab a double on halftime.
Wanganui kept it up in the second half as Jim Seruwalu and Gilbert had a crack, while Bennett couldn't quite link up with Brosnahan to put him in for a hat trick.
Staying on attack with a couple of penalties, Wanganui worked the ball in close and Seruwalu was able to shrug off three defenders to score.
Both teams brought on fresh legs and Taranaki upped their urgency, with Kini Naholo making some hard busts at the line, while Brett Landers beat one tackler to nearly set up Michael Loft scoring at the corner flag.
Going back for a penalty tap, Taranaki spread the ball to the other sideline, where defender Karl Pascoe tried to do the right thing and go low on Naholo, but he followed the family trait by bumping off the tackle to score.
Taranaki then regained the kickoff and Landers dummied into a gap and found support inside to score the equaliser on fulltime.
The visitors started the next game as they ended the first, putting players into gaps and lifting the tempo.
After a run by Lewis Ormond, Warrick Lahmert headed for the corner flag and put Jackson Ormond over untouched.
But Jackson Ormond then limped off after damaging is knee trying to stop Seruwalu, as his team relieved the pressure through a penalty for a Wanganui high tackle.
Blyde went out wide, supported by Brayton Northcott-Hill, but Stratton managed to bring down Kini Naholo with the tryline looming.
Yet it proved only a temporary reprieve as Seruwalu had the ball ripped away by the strong Naholo, and then Blyde ran hard at another gap to score despite Tihema's dive to snag his jersey.
Lewis Ormond, running upright with the ball in one hand, then found another overlap to dash into the far corner on halftime.
Wanganui's attempted breakouts were undone at the ruck through held ball in the second half, while Seruwalu's heavy hit on Northcott-Hill resulted in his sinbinning.
Defending with a man down, Wanganui were stretched and Kini Naholo exploited it as he stayed out on his wing and the ball soon came his way, beating his man to score in the corner twice.
However, Taranaki lost a forward who stayed down groggy after coming in hard for the clean-out and accidently colliding with defender Shandon Scott's knee, so now without two players with Rotorua looming, Taranaki requested a shortened third game start immediately.
Initially it was business as usual as Loft and Jade Taylor broke Wanganui tackles, offloading for Meli Naholo to join his brother on the tryscorers list.
But Stratton made a great run to clear Wanganui's half, and then Tihema started looking to use the chip kick, leading to a scrum after Taranaki's attempted charge down.
Tairogi got the fend working to palm off two tacklers and slipped down the sideline to tie the scores.
Meli Naholo made a great diving catch after turning to chase a Bennett chip kick, with Taranaki earning a penalty at the breakdown and taking the lineout – spreading wide for Blyde to flash over in the opposite corner.
But Wanganui weren't done as Stratton and Ethan Robinson desperately tried to manufacture chances in the midfield, throwing some risky passes, and then Stratton broke free and ran to the line to secure Wanganui a second draw for the day.