Club rugby: Everything to play for in Tasman Tanning Senior Championship

The new Ruapehu Senior team returned to action against a strong Utiku Old Boys at Memorial Park last Saturday. Photo / Merrilyn George

Brought to you by Whanganui Rugby

The 2021 Tasman Tanning Senior Championship started with two Metro clubs under lights on Devon Rd last Friday evening, the question now is which two will finish it in the afternoon of July 17 at Cooks Gardens.

After a truncated and cut-throat 2020 season where 11 teams fought it out for just two playoff spots from July to September, this year's Covid-free campaign is back in its regular schedule with an even complement of 12 sides – half of them backing up their Premier counterparts and the other half being one-squad clubs.

After coming third and missing the Cooks Gardens ticket in 2020, Gemini Pepper Construction Kaierau eventually pulled away from a game Marist Buffalos at the Country Club last Friday evening, 31-16.

A game which had its lighter moments, thanks to an enthusiastic streaker, then finished in bizarre circumstances as Kaierau worked forward off a series of penalties to score their bonus-point try under the posts, only for the conversion to be slotted in pitch blackness as a sudden power cut across four streets killed the floodlights.

Darkness gave way to a new dawn on Saturday for several Senior squads looking to improve on their 2020 efforts.

Wooden-spooners in their first season as a one-team club, Black Bull Liquor Pirates came away with a tough 19-0 win over home side McCrea Scanning Counties at McNab Domain.

Pirates have seen the return of former Steelform Whanganui players Lasa Ulukuta and Clive Stowers from Kaierau, each having now done two tenures with both town clubs.

A former top season try scorer in Premier, Stowers had been looking to hang up the boots this year and just assist the Spriggens Park club with their fitness training, although it appears coach and old team-mate Brett Turner had the silver tongue to convince him to give it another crack.

Likewise reinforced are Kelso Hunterville, having finished in the unfamiliar position of fifth last year.

But with Whanganui High old boy Blair Osborne, nephew of former All Black Glen, back from Manawatu club rugby, along with fellow import Zane Tamati, Hunterville will be eyeing more silverware after a 25-0 win away over Speirs Food Marton – a match that was only a 6-5 victory last year.

It was a historic afternoon at Memorial Park as a Ruapehu Senior team jogged out to play for the first time since 2018.

However, waiting for that rather young side was a seasoned Utiku Old Boys unit, fourth in 2020, who wasted no time on a smooth reintroduction, racking up a big 43-7 win to lead the table for Week 1.

Utiku losing their final game of 2020 to then-bottom table Border was the biggest upset across Premier and Senior for that season, and Border nearly started 2021 in the same fashion, as championship runners-up Ali Arc Logistics-DNA Kennels Marist Celtic just pulled out a 16-14 win at Spriggens Park.

Searching for more than a decade for that elusive title, Celtic lowered their colours to only one team last year - the unbeaten Harvey Round Motors Ratana - who have seen around a dozen from that squad depart, including key Whanganui representative players in Kane Tamou and Cody Hemi.

Eager to get back out into a Covid-free environment after coming home to play for whanau, Ratana will miss their prodigal sons, but nonetheless, the unbeaten streak continued as the new-look squad held off Bennett's Taihape 29-22 at the Pa to retain the Stihl Shop Whanganui Challenge Shield.

Results, Week 1

At Spriggens Park: Ali Arc Logistics-DNA Kennels Marist Celtic bt Border 16-14. HT: 8-5 Border.

At Kaierau Country Club: Gemini Pepper Construction Kaierau bt Marist Buffalo's 31-16. HT: 10-6.

At Ratana Pa (Stihl Shop Whanganui Challenge Shield): Harvey Round Motors Ratana bt Bennett's Taihape 29-22. HT: 12-all.

At Memorial Park: Utiku OB bt Ruapehu 43-7. HT: 19-0.

At McNab Domain: Black Bull Liquor Pirates bt McCrea Scanning Counties 19-0. HT: 5-0.

At Marton Park: Kelso Hunterville bt Speirs Food Marton 25-0. HT: 7-0.