Heartland rugby: Form favours Butcher Boys over Rams this Saturday

Last year Whanganui beat King Country Rams 41-3 in a home game. Pictured is No 6 Ben Whale winning the lineout.

The current form may favour the Whanganui Butcher Boys but the King Country Rams have a very favourable home record at the Taumarunui Domain, going into Saturday’s third qualifying round of the 2023 Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship rugby competition.

The two neighbouring unions have met 70 times over the past 90 years with Whanganui ahead 37 victories to 30 and three draws, but the hosts have lost only three of 14 fixtures played in Taumarunui since 1940.

This weekend, however, will be the first Heartland clash at the Domain.

The difference between the two unions is much greater since the start of the Heartland series in 2006 with Whanganui winning 13 of 17 matches, drawing twice and losing twice. The most recent Taumarunui encounter was a milestone for the Rams, who lifted the Sir Colin Meads Memorial Pinetree Log (16-11) for the first time in 2020 but it was not a Heartland game because of Covid restrictions.

Whanganui have won 18 and drawn one of 32 home fixtures, won nine and drawn one of 14 games in Te Kūiti, won both games in each of Tūrangi, Taupō and Ōtorohanga, and had a win, draw and loss in Raetihi (when it was part of the King Country Union between 1920 and 1970), with the remaining matches in Taumarunui.

The longest winning stretches were 13 by the Butchers between 1970 and 1984 and 13 by the Rams between 1954 and 1971 during the provincial playing careers of legendary All Blacks, brothers Sir Colin Meads and Stan Meads.

The brothers, of course, played key roles in helping the King Country-dominated combined side (with Whanganui) upset the touring British Lions 12-6 before 17,000 delighted Spriggens Park fans in 1966.

During Colin Meads’ 361-match first-class playing career, which included 133 for the All Blacks and 139 for the Rams (1959-1972), King Country lost only twice in visits to Spriggens Park and each time Whanganui All Blacks trialist Bob Barrell kicked two penalties and two conversions.

The Butchers won 16-9 in 1970 and 22-9 two years later when All Black Buff Milner scored twice for Whanganui.

The switch of King Country back to Whanganui 53 years ago boosted the local playing strength with the trio of Maurice Rush, Tom Spry and Rangi Paki drafted straight into the squad by the selection trio of J.J. Stewart, Ron McPhun and Ray Parr (an ex-King Country rep prop).

An interesting player who repped for both unions was Tony “Tank” Gordon, who played nine times for Whanganui in 1969-70 while at the Waiōuru Military Camp and went on to play for the 1975 Kiwis at the Rugby League World Cup, and coached at the league World Cup in 1988.

King County ran up a highest score of 54-10 at Taumarunui in 1992 but the fortunes changed dramatically with the advent of Heartland rugby, the Butchers carving the Rams apart by a record 80-3 on Cooks Gardens in the first Pinetree Memorial Log clash in 2017.

The Rams showed a massive Meads Cup ranking improvement from 12th in 2021 to fourth last year, only to be demolished 76-9 by champions South Canterbury in the semifinals at Pleasant Point with former Ratana Whanganui rep halfback Kane Tamou in the losing team.

King Country had also reached the 2019 Meads semis before losing 58-21 away to South Canterbury in Timaru.

The Rams have contested three Lochore Cup finals - losing 46-34 away to Poverty Bay in 2006, beating North Otago 47-34 at home in 2015 and losing a year later 44-22 to North Otago at the same venue.

Whanganui beat King Country 37-6 in the Lochore Cup semifinals in 2014, going on to beat North Otago 14-12 at Cooks Gardens.

The two unions also met in the 2003 NPC Division 3 final, won 28-16 by the Butcher Boys in Te Kūiti.

After beating the New Zealand Harlequins 35-17 and a Taranaki XV 54-36 in pre-season fixtures this year, King County have lost the opening two Heartland games to South Island sides - 49-9 to West Coast in Greymouth and 21-45 to South Canterbury at Taupō.

Although Whanganui struck a really slushy field in last weekend’s 13-5 win over Buller in Westport, the team are in need of a more dominant effort, similar to last year’s six tries to nil (41-3) score, on Saturday.

Current championship points

10 pts - North Otago 93 pts for, 25 against; South Canterbury 93-35; West Coast 86-31

9 pts - Thames Valley - 60-50.

6 pts - Poverty Bay - 67-57; East Coast 50-40; Whanganui 46-41.

5 pts - Wairarapa-Bush - 36-61.

1 pt - Horowhenua-Kāpiti - 42-96.

0 pts – Mid Canterbury - 30-62; Buller 38- 65; King County 30-85.

Draw for Saturday (home teams first) - King Country v Whanganui, South Canterbury v Buller, East Coast v North v Otago, Mid Canterbury v Horowhenua-Kāpiti, Wairarapa-Bush v Poverty Bay, West Coast v Thames Valley.