But none of those other three talented speedsters got their whole quadruple in the opening 40 minutes, raising the very real possibility of Vakarorogo claiming an outright record with an historic five-for.
Initially, it seemed the milestone would remain shared as Horowhenua-Kapiti, inspired by their long-serving skipper Ryan Shelford’s retirement and milestone games for their try-scorers in prop David McErlean (75) and winger Willie Paia’aua (50), played a much more committed and physical second-stanza - with Whanganui subbing off a couple of key injured players.
But they couldn’t stop Vakarorogo, who also set up two other tries and did a tonne of cover tackling, and then with three minutes remaining, broke through his markers on halfway and burned off the outside defenders to make the record his own.
Sitting on eight tries this Heartland campaign coming into the match, Vakarorogo surged up to 13, equalling his Taranaki Bulls family member Vereniki Tikoisolomone (13 in 2019) and is now just one behind the near-mythical New Zealand Heartland record of Whanganui’s Pati Fetuai - set way back in the inaugural 2006 season.
Coach Jason Hamlin was almost lost for words - not just the five tries but the 30-year-old’s whole range of skills.
“He’s... ridiculous, he’s a talent and that’s... he’s ridiculous. I don’t know what you can say.
“He’s got such a workrate, such an appetite for work. He doesn’t go hunting for that every week, more of that’s a result of hard work [to be in the right place].
“He tackles, he cover defends. With him, over the last couple of years, you’ve seen that growth in his game this year and last year. He’s a major talent.”
With Thames Valley winning but missing the vital bonus point against East Coast to now have to make the trip back to Cooks Gardens, Hamlin was pleased by his side’s focus - especially after choosing to play into a howling first-half wind and emerge with a 34-14 lead.
“We were focused on being direct this week anyway, with the expected conditions but also the team we were playing.
“We thought if we could just keep punching through them, we’d get some results out of that and obviously that came true in that first half - which probably let that release valve off a little bit in terms of hunting the four-try bonus stuff.
“Towards that last quarter, Horowhenua really came after us.
“Young boys coming from the bench are having to do a lot of work, and it wasn’t clean, it wasn’t pretty at times, but they got there - they’re learning on the run.
“We just got to take our hat off to that first 40, and how well the boys played.
“Not super excellent, let a couple of soft options in, but we stuck to what we thought would work, and we deviated a little at times from that.
“But when the message got out to get back to what we’re doing, I think we saw results out of that.”
As well as Horrocks’ 100th game, the match was a fitting occasion for prop Raymond Salu and fullback Peceli Malanicagi to earn their Whanganui blazers for their 15th matches, but Hamlin wanted to single out another of the veterans.
“Jamie Hughes, I thought he was immense in that game - you lose Josh Lane and a Samu [Kubunavanua] and Jamie just keeps doing what he does - he’s outstanding.”
Skipper Dane Whale knew choosing to go into the wind first half would not make his goal-kicking assignment any easier, but again he was confident in his team’s ability.
“For sure, it’s been starting so well, so just to get that roll on when we’re starting - ‘we’re into the wind’ - if you want that advantage in the second half to be able to play down there.
“If it hadn’t worked the first time, then you’d start questioning yourself, but that East Coast game went so well for us, you just got to keep rolling with it.
“That game wasn’t perfect, but you’re probably asking too much from the boys for it to be perfect against a team like Horowhenua - they’re kind of helter-skelter, they don’t hold a lot of structure.
“When you want to play a structured game, it’s hard to fire.”
Whale did not want his squad aware of what was happening up in Waihi, with that game being decided right before Whanganui took the field.
“You shouldn’t have to do the maths in behind your head, so we just needed to put out a performance we were proud of, and I thought we still did that in patches that were excellent.
“That’s a building block for the semis next week, and that’s what we needed it to be.”
Whanganui 55 (A. Vakarorogo 5, L. Horrocks, A. Tanoa, D. Horrocks, J. Seruwalu tries; D. Whale 5 con) bt Horowhenua-Kāpiti19 (L.Ralph, D. McErlean, W. Paia’aua tries; J. Tatu-Robinson 2 con). HT: 34-14.
Around the grounds
Ioasa
Whanganui Collegiate First XV player Tali Ioasa is the region’s latest professional player after the talented teenager signed a four-year contract with the Kobe Steelers, starting in the 2023-24 season.
Playing under former Chiefs and Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, Ioasa will join a squad with several former All Blacks and other internationals to play in Japan League One.
Manamanaivalu
Whanganui Collegiate First XV player Pita Manamanaivalu has been named in the 40-strong New Zealand Fiji Schools Sevens wider training squad to prepare for the Global Youth Sevens tournament in being held in Auckland in December. The Collegiate flyer will trial for the final squad at the Karaka RFC ground on November 4.
Under 18
The Longrun Spouting Whanganui Under-18 girls competed at the Hurricanes Youth Council Camp in Napier from September 23-25. Playing shortened games, Whanganui defeated Manawatū, drew with Hawke’s Bay, and lost to Poverty Bay, East Coast and Wellington.
Under 16
The AGC Training Whanganui Under-16 Boys finished third at the Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council Tournament in Napier on Thursday. After a win over Hawke’s Bay U16 Development and loss to Poverty Bay U16, Whanganui defeated Wairarapa Bush 29-0 in their last match.
