Samu Kubunavanua scored a brace as Whanganui locked in a top-four spot.
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The Bruce Steel Memorial Cup is locked away for the summer and a Meads Cup semifinal place is guaranteed as a rearranged Steelform Whanganui line-up overran Horowhenua-Kāpiti in Levin on Saturday.
After the inclement showers cleared away before kickoff, Whanganui continued their short-ball style attack, and even without injured skipper Jamie Hughes being available, while likewise recovering strike weapon Alekesio Vakarorogo was only a late inclusion on the bench, the hosts proved no match in their 72-28 defeat.
Scoring 12 tries to four, in the absence of Hughes the side got brilliant service from his replacement Samu Kubunavanua, who turned the clock back with a double in a vintage performance as he and fellow athletic Fijian Josefa Namosimalua went the full 80 minutes and were outstanding on the carries and cover defence.
Moving out to centre to cover Vakarorogo, and despite having his leg heavily taped as he relinquished the goal-kicking to fullback Tyler-Rogers Holden, Ethan Robinson traded his finesse game for straight power-running - breaking through the line to score two tries.
Winger Josaia Bogileka also finished strongly, scoring a double in consecutive games.
Led by die-hard flanker William Rua, Horowhenua-Kāpiti earned a much-needed bonus point in their push for a home Lochore Cup semifinal spot, because while they made a number of errors and struggled to contain Whanganui through the midfield, their forward pack scored a succession of good tries by carrying around the corners of the ruck, with import first five Brandyn Laursen converting the lot.
Their trouble was Whanganui would hit back virtually immediately - both Robinson and winger Peceli Malanicagi scoring tries straight from re-gathering kick restarts - the latter set up by Kubunavanua.
As well as the midfield, Whanganui changed around their front row, with Kereti Tamou and Keightley Watson both starting at prop, and putting the home side scrum under pressure with a tighthead straight from the beginning.
Wanting a strong final quarter, the self-christened “Mob Squad” off the bench delivered.
Although he is likely only to be a temporary member of that squad, Vakarorogo came on to score a try and was running relatively freely, as was powerhouse reserve prop Raymond Salu as he scored in his comeback game.
Apprentice player Joseph Abernethy got his first try in Whanganui colours, while reserve hooker Joe Edwards jogged out for his 15th appearance to earn his blazer, having debuted in 2019.
“We were happy they got through without any further injuries,” said Whanganui coach Jason Hamlin of his re-jigged line-up.
“When we’re holding our ball, and doing clean execution, I thought the game itself presented how we thought it might.
“We weren’t clean on all the opportunities we could [have], but that’s being really picky.
“Letting them into the game was probably some poor option-taking - for all their four tries, I’d probably attribute it back to a mistake by us.
“We want to keep working for the real good result, in terms of being more complete around our game.
“But [the team’s] pretty happy scoring 70-odd points.”
Hamlin praised his Fijian flankers.
“I thought Samu was outstanding - shows you the quality of player he is.
“In his absence last year, Josefa was able to step up, and again this year.”
He congratulated Edwards for his blazer game and Abernethy for his first try.
“That’s part of what the team experience is, throughout the year.
“Both the Joes aren’t just getting it for the sake of getting it - they’ve put the work in.”
No. 8 Doug Horrocks also had a milestone with his first victory as Whanganui captain, covering for Hughes.
“I can’t ask for better than that - one from one.
“I think Samu was the pick of the players on the park today
“Josefa’s continuing his strong form, so it’s good to be carried in the loose forward trio.
“I think it’s been good we’ve had to defend the Bruce Steel versus Wairarapa and Horowhenua the last two weeks. Obviously we’ve got the Bill Osborne Taonga and the ‘Pinetree’ next week against King Country, so there’s no slacking off.
“We have to take it one game at a time, and you can’t look ahead of yourself when you have to defend those trophies, so the draw’s probably done us a few favours in that regard.”
For the second consecutive match, Whanganui had conceded the last try of the game near fulltime - no factor on the results but a reminder, with 80-minute teams like Thames Valley and South Canterbury on the horizon, of the need to maintain standards.
“It’s easy to stay on when it’s a tight game - you look at the Thames game we defended for 10 minutes there, and ticker’s not a problem, and neither is fitness,” said Horrocks.
“It’s just those little mental lapses. I think the bigger issue for us is late in games, whether on attack if we’re trying to close it out for a half or before the 80th minute, we probably need to be a bit more secure in what we’re doing to not give those teams the opportunities.”
The game was screened live on Sky TV, and all the try-scoring highlights can be watched on Sky’s YouTube channel.
Whanganui 72 (E Robinson 2, J Bogileka 2, S Kubunavanua 2, T Rogers-Holden, J Namosimalua, P Malanicagi, A Vakarorogo, J Abernethy, R Salu tries; Rogers-Holden 6 con) bt Horowhenua-Kāpiti 28 (W Paia’aua, W Rua, M Alaifatu, M Harvey tries; B Laursen 4 con). HT: 34-14.