WHILE Steelform Wanganui are unlikely to be back at Cooks Gardens this season after this weekend's Pink Batts Heartland Meads Cup semifinals, their leading players will have a chance to jog out wearing the Silver Fern against a traditional rival in a new guise.
It was confirmed late last week that Cooks Gardens will host the international match between the New Zealand Heartland XV and the Australian Barbarians team in a Friday night clash under lights on November 13. The game will be the series decider as the teams will also meet in Levin on November 10.
WRFU chief executive Bridget Belsham said she was asked about Wanganui hosting the game at the NZRU meeting of union CEOs on August 15 in Auckland, held before the Bledisloe Cup game between the All Blacks and Wallabies.
She then sought approval from the WRFU and Cooks Gardens boards, while also negotiating with Wanganui athletics' Alec McNab to make sure the ground could be available for a late season game.
One rugby goal post will be taken down after this weekend, to allow for the athletic field events, and will be put back up just before the match.
"They've been more than accommodating around their schedule," said Belsham.
"It was good to get the opportunity to have the match."
In fact, athletics is likely to provide some of the pre-match entertainment.
Rather than a curtain-raiser game, plans are being considered for some kind of track race, which will be based around local standouts Christian Conder and Jane Lennox - selected for the New Zealand team to compete at the ISF World Schools Cross Country championships in Hungary in April.
At one point it was mooted for Heartland vs Barbarians to be held on a Wednesday, but Belsham said the Friday evening with a 6pm kick-off would hopefully be perfect for attracting a good crowd, including families as it was not too late for kids.
"That suits us better. They are [also] considering a fair few of our players."
With Wanganui returning to Pink Batts Heartland Championship respectability and a spot in the Meads Cup play-offs, Belsham said a few spotters have been at games, while former Wanganui coach Guy Lennox is also one of the selectors. There are reportedly five or six players in consideration for the New Zealand team. The incumbents from the 2014 squad, which toured the Cook Islands, are Wanganui flanker and skipper Peter Rowe, who has captained the NZ Heartland XV since 2012, and hooker Cole Baldwin, while Lasa Ulukuta was also in the team but withdrew from representative rugby this year.
New Heartland XV coach Grant Keenan, who takes over from King Country's Kurt McQuilkin, will also be familiar with the Wanganui players, having coached Mid Canterbury against them at Cooks Gardens on August 29 and again this weekend in the Meads Cup semifinals.
The new assistant coach is Poverty Bay's Mutu Ngarimu, a former Maori All Black, Hawke's Bay and NZ Divisional XV - predecessor to the Heartland XV - player.
Brent Anderson, NZRU's community and provincial union general manager, said the two coaches have the depth of experience and skill required to ensure the team would be well prepared and competitive.
"The selectors were impressed with Keenan and Ngarimu. They will need to be able to pull together the team quickly and only have a short space of time to make sure they are humming and ready to take on Marist and the Australian Barbarians ..."
The Barbarians are likely to be an interesting combination, coming from talent in the 2015 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship (NRC). Kicking off last year, the NRC is Australian rugby's latest attempt to organise a national provincial competition - similar to the ITM Cup.
There are nine teams in the NRC - three from Sydney, two Queensland, and one each from Perth, Canberra, Melbourne and New South Wales Country.
Super Rugby players who were not selected for the Wallabies' Rugby World Cup team are required to play in the competition. The playoffs will be held at the end of this month.
As part of their warm-up, the NZ Heartland XV will play their annual game against NZ Marist for the Ian MacRae Cup, before meeting the Australians at Levin Domain and Cooks Gardens.
The international will be the biggest game held in Wanganui since the Hurricanes Development team took on the Fiji Warriors in March 2013.