Steelform Whanganui will take on South Canterbury in the Meads Cup final in Pleasant Point on Saturday. Photo / Bevan Conley
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Steelform Whanganui will take a virtually unchanged lineup for their journey deep into the South Island hinterland for the Meads Cup final on Saturday, but the one possible alteration could be significant.
After five weeks on the sideline boring holes with his eyes into the timber as he watched from the grandstand, lock Peter-Travis Hay-Horton has completed his suspension from the red card in Week 4 of the competition, ironically against the same opponent in the unbeaten South Canterbury.
Bracketed on the bench with his dependable loose forward club-mate Regan Collier, Hay-Horton would want to redeem his exit in the 64th minute of the game with the defending champions, who used their one-man advantage to go from trailing 24-22 to over-running Whanganui 30-24 and winning on Cooks Gardens for the first time in the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship era.
Since then, having also been tested at home in the first game by eventual semifinalists Thames Valley, the Cantabrians ran roughshod over the rest of the competition, now hunting back-to-back unbeaten Meads Cups campaigns and, while Whanganui took a little while to find their groove, they too have been unbeaten since to set up this super-clash.
First-year coach Jason Hamlin, who is also assistant NZ Heartland XV coach to South Canterbury's Nigel Walsh, knows the task ahead of his side.
"We believe we can go there and do something.
"You'll see the end score [in the semifinals] and think King Country weren't in it, but for 30 minutes they were competing, then the wheels fell off.
"That's the strike in them – between Willie Wright and Sam Briggs, a No9-10 that control the tempo really well, and they've got some powerful backs.
"That's why they won so many games. We probably gave them a leg up, playing with 14 for the last quarter.
"But that's what they do though, take their chances and convert them. Invariably when they win, they win big."
As well as the backline, South Canterbury have some steam-rollers in the forwards, thus Hamlin's thought process around re-introducing Hay-Horton to the bench.
"It's a really tough call, to be honest. We've put one or two [thoughts] in it.
"Against a big pack like South Canterbury, we're going to need some size, we're going to need some bodies.
"I've hedged my bets one way, then I think the other way. [Hay-Horton's] been turning up [to trainings], and [brother] Slade's the same."
With Hay-Horton's fellow lock Matt Ashworth also on the bench, it is likely Hamlin would move Ben Whale back to the loose forwards if required during the match, given current flankers Jamie Hughes and Samu Kubunavanua would otherwise go the distance.
As a blindside flanker, the former Whanganui winger Kubunavanua has experienced a representative career renaissance this campaign.
After years of leg and shoulder issues, the one-time Hurricanes Development XV player has finally been back to full stride and in outstanding form.
"There was always an injury. There was times as a loose forward if you had a Campbell Hart, where was he going to play?" said Hamlin.
"But he's come in this year and he's been massive.
"There's still moments in a game where he'll do a quick tap or a quick lineout throw. But he's been unreal, he's a real barometer for the team."
Because of their quiet nature, fellow Fijians and attacking weapons Alekesio Vakarorogo and Semi Vodosese, both try-scorers against South Canterbury, often respond better to a private word.
But Hamlin knows he can be absolutely verbally direct with the veteran Kubunavanua and he will deliver.
"When you put that on him, and the rest of the team sees that, the team gets a lift from Samu."
The other players picked themselves after the rugged win over Thames Valley, Hamlin still keeping faith on Ethan Robinson to stay in one piece as the key goal-kicker.
Skipper Dane Whale has not taken the tee since the early preseason, although with 53 conversions and seven penalties in his Heartland career, he can step up if required.
Slade Hay-Horton and Tai Pulemagafa are thanked for all their efforts this year, but Hamlin is pleased with the core work of the props Keightley Watson, Gabriel Hakaraia, Bradley Fountain and Ranato Tikoisolomone – needing one more big effort in the furnace.
"The cupboard was a little bare, but then we've got them coming through showing things.
"The front row, which wasn't our strongest area in Whanganui, it's looking good."
The team will fly out to Timaru on Friday and then make the 19km drive out to Pleasant Point – South Canterbury using their country club grounds this season due to Alpine Stadium being revamped.
"I think the players need to see it. The kickers can have a kick around, get a feel for it," said Hamlin.
The team will then return to Timaru before the trip back out on Saturday morning.
Kickoff is at the slightly earlier time of 2.05pm, live on Sky Sport 1.
The Whanganui team is:
1. Keightley Watson; 2. Roman Tutauha; 3. Gabriel Hakaraia; 4. Josh Lane; 5. Ben Whale; 6. Samu Kubunavanua; 7. Jamie Hughes; 8. Semi Vodosese; 9. Lindsay Horrocks; 10. Dane Whale (c); 11. Tyler Rogers-Holden; 12. Timoci Seruwalu; 13. Josaia Bogileka; 14. Alekesio Vakarorogo; 15. Ethan Robinson.
Reserves – Forwards: 16. Bradley Fountain; 17. Ranato Tikoisolomone; 18. Jack Yarrall; 19. Peter-Travis Hay-Horton/Regan Collier; 20. Matt Ashworth; 21. Caleb Gray; 22. Kameli Kuruyabaki; 23. Tiari Mumby.
Steelform Whanganui will not only be trying to lift the Meads Cup in Pleasant Point on Saturday, they will be trying to break the longest winning streak in the history of the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship.
The reigning Meads Cup champions South Canterbury extended their undefeated record over Heartland teams to 23 straight matches, going all the way back to the Lochore Cup semifinals of 2019 after they destroyed King Country 76-9 on Saturday.
The visitors started strongly in the forwards and hung with South Canterbury for as long as they could, even when reduced to 14 for a professional foul sin-binning, as first-five Quinn Collard slotted three penalties for King Country to only trail 17-9 after 36 minutes.
But industrious South Canterbury winger Kalavini Leatigaga got his second try right on halftime, taking an inside pass after previously scoring out wide, and then the hosts put the foot down in the second stanza.
No8 Siu Kakala was unstoppable, rampaging wide and taking a tap to charge at the posts for his two tries, while fullback Liueli Simote backed up expertly to get a hat-trick as South Canterbury piled on 52 unanswered points, with King Country getting another yellow card.
First-five Sam Briggs finished with a 21-point haul from a try and eight conversions.
The blowout moved South Canterbury to 65 tries for the season, overhauling another Whanganui-owned Heartland record of 63.
The Lochore Cup semifinals both went the way of the visiting team, setting up Ruatoria as the unlikely venue for the final as Ngāti Porou East Coast will take on Mid Canterbury.
Mid Canterbury would have felt confident heading a couple of hours south to Oamaru, given they were victorious there over North Otago in Golden Point extra time back in Week 4.
This time, there was no grandstand finish, as the Cantabrians controlled the second half to win 31-15.
Centre Raitube Vasurakuta scored two of his team's five tries, with fullback Nathan McCloy getting another and taking over the goal-kicking from first-five Tom Reekie to slot a conversion.
North Otago came back twice to lead the game briefly, 12-7 in the first half and 15-14 in the second, but ultimately they closed out a disappointing season by their standards, losing their last two games.
East Coast, however, are eyeing up their best year since the 2012 Meads Cup win, after they won a thriller in Levin against Horowhenua-Kapiti, 37-30.
Having already locked away the Bill Osborne Taonga for the summer, East Coast got away to a strong start to lead 10-3 as halfback and captain Sam Parkes scored the first of his three tries.
Horowhenua Kapiti chased them all match, levelling 10-10 and then scoring right on halftime as winger Louis Northcott got the first of his hat trick to close to 22-18.
Two more Parkes' tries seemed to have East Coast set at 34-18, while first-five Carlos Kemp would also add his second penalty, but two more Northcott tries set up a pulsating final 10 minutes.
Right on full-time, Horowhenua-Kapiti desperately tried to get the ball wide to Northcott again, but the pass went down for East Coast to celebrate.
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