Kaierau were too strong for Marist at the Country Club on Saturday.
Brought to you by Whanganui Rugby
Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau have claimed their second Paul Mitchell Cup in four seasons as leaders of the Tasman Tanning Premier table after the first round.
While Kaierau had the most straightforward pathway to the Cup out of the three teams in contention heading into Saturday’s fixtures, few would have expected how decisively they seized the moment - turning it on for a big Country Club crowd on Old Timers Day with a 43-5 pumping of Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist.
Already undermanned with the loss of key prop Keightley Watson and flanker Samu Kubunavanua, Marist had to go without their dedicated skipper Brad Graham, thrusting the captaincy on youngster Jack O’Leary, as they looked to lift again from their emotional win over Byford’s Readmix Taihape the previous weekend.
But in the metaphorical perfect storm on a beautiful warm day, Marist ran into a buzzsaw in the form of a determined Kaierau outfit, who had changed their gameplan around completely from the high-speed, wide channels attack seen in their previous win over McCarthy’s Transport Ruapehu.
Kaierau dominated the set piece, turning over Marist’s scrums and disrupting their lineouts, thereby starving the visitor’s young speedster backs of meaningful possession.
They then charged hard through the middle corridors, led by props Raymond Salu and Tai Pulemagafa, who complimented each other like twin Sherman tanks, as both they and hooker Joe Edwards completed the set of front-row try-scorers.
In the backline, the side lost returning veteran first five Brook Tremayne early after an unlucky rib injury where he fell on a defender’s knee, but Kaierau merely reset as second five Sheldon Pakinga moved in and reserve Apolosi Tanoa resumed his midfield position from the previous match.
Pakinga rose to the occasion, getting Kaierau on the front foot with probing runs and offloads, and while only slotting four from eight attempts, two of his misses occurred shortly after taking a heavy blow to the shoulder.
Tanoa likewise had a hand in almost all of Kaierau’s backline tries once they entered the danger zone, working the likes of fullback Peceli Malanicagi, wingers Peniani Wakatabu and Harry Unsworth and reserve back Carliwyne Riddles into close range so they could pump through their final marker to score.
Lock Matt Ashworth delivered an 80-minute effort while reuniting his two towers combination with Josh Lane, back in the starting XV.
Marist started so well with a textbook recycle and spread attack leading to flanker Hamish Broadhead scoring in the corner after only 90 seconds.
But then Kaierau were able to drag Marist back to the middle of the park for a physical arm wrestle, with both teams having a player sin-binned in Tanoa and centre Josaia Bogileka respectively.
Marist’s standouts were their captain O’Leary at second five, while lock Lake Ah Chong showed some of the heart others had lacked when he stayed down after a heavy blow, but when helped up insisted on rejoining his teammates rather than come off, despite the lopsided scoreline.
The match was well-supported with barely a spare parking spot to be found, which victorious coach Te Ahu Teki acknowledged.
“The whole day has been awesome. The weather’s turned it on, the people have come out and just glad we could turn it on for our Old Timers,” Teki said.
“[The set piece] was certainly a focus for us this week, and when we get the little things right we can start building some pressure and that’s what happened in the end.
“Our boys did a great job - they’ll enjoy tonight and look forward to next week.
“It’s always gutting for the old timers like Brookey to go down, but Sheldon got on and moved into that pivotal role, and I think he’s evolved in the last couple of weeks where he’s almost a genuine first five.
“He directed play well for the boys. The one thing we haven’t had in the past is depth, but from No 1 to No 26, we trust any of those players to go and do the job for us.”
Leading the table by a point over next weekend’s opponents Waverley Harvesting Border, Kaierau will now play their two toughest games at home, and going undefeated at the Country Club would set them on the path of a home semifinal.
“When we go back to the beginning, before our season started, one of our goals was to make this a fortress - it’s one of those places where it’s our holy ground, in a sense,” Teki said.
“One of the goals is to keep the W’s coming all season, and so hopefully we’re on track to do that, and keep that momentum.”
Having had an outside chance of lifting the cup themselves coming into the game, Marist’s coach Travers Hopkins had to tactfully inform his team that while they were not at full strength, they must find some way to maintain intensity as they did against Taihape.
“It’s reminding the guys that, look, this is a competition, so you can ride the enjoyment of one week, but you’ve got to follow it up the next week and the week after,” Hopkins said.
“Once we scored that try, it just kind of went a bit flat. We gave Kaierau some easy exits.
“We’d get into our green zone and not captialise on it, and it just seemed in that first 20 minutes, half an hour, every time they came down our end, they were coming away with points.
“Credit to them, they definitely played more hungry than us.
“The boys just seemed to playing catch-up rugby, so it’s about getting through to them that this is a feeling you don’t want to be in, dare I say, ever again, and you need to use that as motivation.
“We’ve got a few guys out with injury, but we need to be confident in the 22 that we name.
“They did it well in patches, but rugby’s an 80-minute game and it adds up to a performance we’re not very proud of.”
Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau 43 (H Unsworth, R Salu, T Pulemagafa, J Edwards, P Malanicagi, P Waqatabu, C Riddles tries; S Pakinga 4 con) bt Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist 5 (H Broadhead try). HT: 19-5.