Whanganui rugby: Narrow loss for Under-20s in HYC opener

The Whanganui Under-20s hosted the Horowhenua-Kāpiti U20s at Spriggens Park on Saturday.

Brought to you by Whanganui Rugby

The Summit Electrical Whanganui Under-20s will have to go the long way around if they want to win the HYC Under-20s crown after a tough 12-10 loss to the Horowhenua-Kāpiti U20s at Spriggens Park on Saturday.

Whanganui struck first from an attacking scrum as No 8 Isaac Jordan went off the back and flicked his offload to halfback Hamu Raukawa, who put winger Saul Abernethy over in the corner.

However, Horowhenua-Kāpiti had a couple of big ball-runners who towered over the home forward pack, and after first five Tainui Winterburn made a good probing run, the forwards recycled at the line and prop Xodus Purewai drove low to score the equaliser.

After Horowhenua-Kāpiti blindside flanker George To went for a dash, Whanganui lost centre Akiwa Koro to the sin bin for a professional foul, and following a quick tap, To linked with Purewai to put No 8 Levi Timms over beside the posts for an easy conversion by Winterburn.

Whanganui struck back before the break after Raukawa grabbed an overthrown lineout ball and stepped through defenders to take off and score a stunning individual try.

But despite narrowing the gap to two points, the hosts could not score in the second half, their best opportunity coming early in the third quarter, but they dropped the ball three times inside the visitor’s attacking 10m.

Having the wind behind them, Horowhenua-Kāpiti made sustained pressure in Whanganui’s half, but could not crack through either, the home side trying their luck with attacking chip kicks behind the defensive line to mixed results.

Whanganui had one last golden chance with an attacking scrum three minutes from fulltime, but a loose pass was claimed by the defenders, who cleared out of their danger zone.

“Overall, pretty proud of the performance, 12-10 is definitely nothing to be disappointed about after one training,” said Whanganui coach Todd Cowan.

“We definitely had our opportunities and probably didn’t take those at times.

“It could have gone either way towards the end, and Horowhenua were lucky enough to get the win.

“Another training will do us wonders this week, so get into another training and then down to Bulls to Wairarapa and Poverty Bay – I think we’ll be fine.”

Horowhenua-Kāpiti U20s 12 (X. Purewai, L. Timms tries; T. Winterburn con) bt Whanganui U20 10 (S. Abernethy, H. Raukawa tries). HT: 12-10.