The quartet all played in the 2017 Whanganui reps who beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 30-14 under skipper Cole Baldwin in the Meads Cup final at Levin.
Hart, 30, a NZ Heartland representative in 2018-19, has played 45 times for the Butcher Boys over the past six seasons. He took over as rep captain from Roman Tutauha in 2019.
Making his debut as a substitute player in a 12-32 Ranfurly Shield loss to Waikato at Cambridge in 2016, Hart helped Whanganui hold off Buller 20-18 in a tight Meads Cup final on Cooks Gardens at the end of the season.
He claimed a second Meads Cup gold medal with a 30-14 win over Horowhenua-Kapiti a year later at Levin, was in the side upset 7-17 by the Thames Valley Swamp Foxes in the Meads semifinal here in 2018 but led Whanganui to a tense 20-15 revenge semifinal success over the Foxes at Paeroa a year later only to lose the final 19-33 away to North Otago seven days later.
Hart's second Ranfurly Shield challenge was the 10-33 loss to Taranaki at Hawera in 2018.
Tutauha, a 35-year-old railway supervisor who played 80 rep games since 2012, like Hart made his rep debut as a replacement during a Ranfurly Shield challenge – in the 7-51 loss to Taranaki at New Plymouth in 2012.
He also played for "The Log" as a hooker against Waikato in 2016 and as a sub in the 5-71 hiding from Canterbury 12 months later.
Highlight of his career was winning four successive Heartland championship titles – as a sub in the Lochore Cup final in 2014 (14-12 away v North Otago) and three successive Meads Cups – as a sub at Timaru in 2015 (28-11 v South Canterbury) and v Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin in 2017 (30-14) and as starting hooker v Buller (20-18) on Cooks Gardens in 2015.
He shared the record four successive Heartland titles with fellow current reps Viki Tofa, and Lindsay Horrocks and ex-reps Sam Madams, Samu Kubunavanua, Cole Baldwin and Bryn Hudson.
In addition, Tutauha won Meads silver medals in away final losses to East Coast in 2012 (27-29) and North Otago in 2019 (19-33) and played in two losing semifinal sides at Cooks Gardens – 30-40 Lochore Cup v Buller in 2013 and 7-17 Meads semis v Thames Valley in 2018.
Tutauha, the third Ruapehu forward to captain Whanganui (2018), following in the footsteps of Peter Rowe (up to 2016) and just ahead of current retiring skipper Campbell Hart, is the third most capped Ruapehu rep player.
Rowe played 120 games for the union, starting in 2003, and former All Black half back Andrew Donald repped 118 times for the Butcher Boys between 1976-84.
Gabriel Hakaraia, a 26-year-old builder who has 35 rep caps to his credit, made his debut in a 60-14 trouncing of Thames Valley at Cooks Gardens in 2016.
He won a Meads Cup final, as a substitute against Horowhenua-Kapiti in 2017 and was in the third-placed Heartland team the following season, taking the field as a reserve in the beaten semifinal.
Hakaraia was also subbed on in the 2018 Ranfurly Shield match against Taranaki in Hawera.
Jamie Hughes, the shortest and lightest current rep forward, made his debut in the 2016 Ranfurly Shield bid against Waikato and also played in the 2017 (v Canterbury) and 2018 (v Taranaki) challenges.
The very quick and alert flanker, who had 50 games for Whanganui over the past six seasons, played a key role in the union winning a record hat-trick of Meads championships between 2016-18.
A fencer by trade he was always fit, was a reliable tackler and as an open side flanker was a menace to opposing teams.
He was also a hard-working member of the Ruapehu club teams and in recent years helped the "Mountain Men" continue a great club record of reaching the Top Four premier teams for 13 years in a row until just missing by a spot this season's play-offs.
The departure of the four rep forwards, and with coach Kim McNaught not available, it will be a real rebuilding for Ruapehu in 2022.
Local Lochore final
History will be made next weekend when Whanganui hosts its first Heartland Lochore Cup final at Cooks Gardens.
A fine 35-27 victory over previously unbeaten Thames Valley last Saturday, the first time the Butcher Boys have won in Te Aroha, clinched top spot for the Lochore final against North Otago which will be televised live starting at 1.05pm on Sunday.
Unbeaten South Canterbury hosts Thames Valley in the Meads Cup final later in the day with Poverty Bay and Mid Canterbury contesting the new Osborne Taonga (fifth and sixth play-off) final.
The Osborne trophy is named after former Whanganui All Black and recent NZRU president Bill Osborne.
Whanganui went into last weekend's match against the Swamp Foxes needing at least two points to qualify for the Lochore final and scoring four tries (a five point victory) wrapped up a home title decider.
It will be the fifth Heartland final to be played locally since the 12-union championship series started in 2006.
Whanganui won Meads Cup honours at Cooks Gardens in 2008 (27-16 v Mid Canterbury), 201l (30-10 v East Coast) and 2016 (20-18 v Buller) and lost 14-16 to Wairarapa-Bush in 2006.
The locals have won three away Meads finals – 34-25 v Mid Canterbury in 2009 in Christchurch, 28-11 v South Canterbury in 2015 and Horowhenua-Kapiti 30-14 in 2017 – and been beaten away four times – 8-25 in 2007, 18-39 in 2010 and 19-33 in 2019 by North Otago in Oamaru and 27-29 by East Coast at Ruatoria.
There was also a 7-17 semifinal defeat by Thames Valley at Cooks Gardens in 2018.
In the Lochore Cup Whanganui (under different coaches) lost 30-40 to Bulller locally in the 2013 semifinals but beat North Otago 14-12 in the 2014 away final under the present coaching staff.
Whanganui has contested 11 Meads finals for six victories and five losses and this will be the union's second Lochore final, the Butcher Boys only missing out on starts in Heartland finals in 2013 and 2018.
Sunday brings together the 2019 Meads Cup finalists but this time the Butcher Boys will have the advantage of a home field against the Old Golds instead of contesting a final at Oamaru's Whitestone Contracting Stadium.
Although Whanganui recorded a record 45-12 win on Cooks Gardens in the recent 15th Heartland clash between the two most successful unions in the championship, North Otago traditionally fields a formidable forward pack.
They have strong Tongan forwards, who along with 35-year-old 114-cap former NZ Heartland front rower Ralph Darling, played a major role when the Old Golds beat Whanganui 33-19 in the last Meads final two years ago.
Just as North Otago has basically ruled the roost at home, winning all of its three Meads Cup finals against Whanganui, the Butcher Boys have only dropped one cooks Gardens fixture – 39-16 in 2007 with North Otago going on to win the final 25-8 in Oamaru.
Since the competition started in 2006 Whanganui is ahead nine wins to six but both unions have scored 355 points and the average match score is 24-all.
Thus the stage is set for what could be an enthralling climax to the 2021 championship season.
