Ezra Meleisia goes over to score untouched after Wanganui won a tighthead scrum against King Country in the big win at Cooks Gardens today.
From second to last after three games, to the Meads Cup group in just four simple steps.
Steelform Wanganui is out of rehab and on the road to full recovery after crushing King Country's hopes of playoff rugby in 2019 with a 57-19 hammering at Cooks Gardens today.
In what could likely be Wanganui's final home game for this Mitre 10 Heartland Championship season, serendipitous circumstances like dry weather until after fulltime, and other results around the country going their way, meant a fourth straight bonus point victory was enough for fourth spot with one round remaining, after the nine tries to three shut out.
Like math students who have been struggling with an equation all semester until they finally memorise the formula, at last Wanganui have got their ball handling exactly where they want it – with some scintillating offloads on the carry and snappy inside passes creating the space and timing for the speedsters to take off.
All three of Wanganui's young imports were outstanding, as winger Shai Wiperi, ranging centre Amos Pogia and powerful No 8 Ezra Meleisia covered a lot of metres, literally running until their muscles gave out on them due to leg cramps.
After King Country were charging up quickly from the breakdown to pressure his pass receivers or close off the channel, halfback Lindsay Horrocks didn't get mad, he got even – probing around the fringes on attack or rushing over to tackle the visitor's midfielders on defence.
King Country over-played their hand a number of times at the breakdown in front of Wellington referee Vincent Ringrose, as Wanganui's coaching staff will be delighted with the 10-5 penalty count in their favour.
The forwards can also take a bow for a succession of turnovers and a dominant scrum, especially in their important second try when a 5m scrum was pushed over into a tighthead and Meleisia just had to pick it up and charge across with no cover set by the shocked visitors.
Fullback Nick Harding (six from nine) landed his conversions with 100 per cent accuracy into the strong first half wind to keep King Country further out of sight than they could handle at 28-14, and then a strong Wanganui bench led by reserve back Ethan Robinson and impact prop Raymond Salu kept up the tempo, as their team went on a try-scoring frenzy in the third quarter.
Hooker Roman Tutuaha had his best match of the season with some great linking to the outside backs, while winger Vereniki Tikoisolomone could not be contained by the cover defence – dashing right down the chalk lines for another double this campaign.
Playing without Waikato import lock Josh Balme, while they lost prop Charlie Henare to injury in the opening exchanges, King Country's best were flanker Lisoni Tuivanuavou and No 8 Chulainn Mabbett-Sowerby, but they were swimming against the tide.
"A combination of work coming together through the season and everything's clicking," said captain Campbell Hart.
Understandably, being in the engine room, he was delighted with the tighthead try.
"We were happy with the forwards work – been working hard on the scrum and the lineout."
Assistant coach Jason Hamlin was also elated with that play.
"At the start of this comp, we couldn't have done that."
He praised the composure and confidence of Wiperi, Pogia and Meleisia.
"I thought they played really well, I was also really happy with Nick Harding.
"He had an opportunity early in the season, probably didn't hit the mark, by his own admission.
"He's just doing all the things we asked. With the goal kicking, the fives become sevens, and that's just gold."
After the three losses, the squad had spoken about personal accountability, and Hamlin said not only was it veterans like Horrocks taking up the banner, but the youngsters like lock Josh Lane, who did the 80 minutes this week, and Robinson, after he took over for the veteran Penijamini Nabainivalu.
"There's no let down coming on for 30 minutes, he did a lot. Good decisions.
"It's being in the environment and finding his feet."
While Wanganui making the Meads Cup group after the seventh round is a pleasant bonus, the points table is so congested now that the pre-match equation doesn't change
If they don't put in a win-with-bonus performance against Horowhenua Kapiti, then it's Lochore Cup rugby for 2019.
"Anything along those lines, if we have a repeat of the first three weeks, we're out of the mix," said Hamlin.
"If we can do what we want to next week, that's a step forward.
"I don't care where we play [Meads Cup semi], as long as we're in it."
That wasn't looking certain early on as Wanganui did win their own kickoff and went on attack, but some loose handling in the tackle and rushing King Country defence kept them out, with the visitors using the strong wind to kick clear.
An overthrown Wanganui lineout left them under pressure inside their 15m, and eventually Henare's replacement prop Dan Ross was able to burrow over, with first-five Evaan Reihana converting after 13 minutes.
The home side quickly recovered as an excellent Tutauha pass sent Wiperi charging into the 15m, followed up by carries from first-five Dane Whale and prop Kamipeli Latu, which led to a quick tap penalty and flanker Jamie Hughes scoring beside the ruck.
A Whale break was carried on by Pogia towards the line, and although the ball was lost, Wanganui's forwards caught everybody, including Horrocks, by surprise with their powerful scrum push, as Meleisia picked the ball off the back to dive over.
King Country's defensive line kept coming up quick off the breakdown, so Whale tried a floating pass which Harding caught over his head and then set up Tikoisolomone to out-gas his opposite Ratu Vosaki and sprint away down the sideline and back under the posts for 21-7 in the 30th minute.
The hard runs and quick passes continued, as Lane combined with Harding to again give Tikoisolomone a tiny amount of space and that was all he needed to sneak in at the corner flag, with Harding then converting from the touchline.
One cardinal sin has yet to be purged, however, as inside the last five minutes before halftime, a series of handling errors left Wanganui trapped inside their 22m, and from a scrum win, winger Alex Thrupp came infield and swept through two weak tackle attempts to yet again give away soft points off the final play.
But from their second half kickoff going out on the full, nothing went right for King Country in the third quarter, as Pogia made some great charging runs and was then rewarded with the final pass to score after the Ruapehu connection of Tutauha, Hughes and Hart had worked towards to the tryline.
A forward pass by the visitors gave Wanganui a scrum in good position, and Horrocks worked blindside with Tikoisolomone and got a great ball back inside to shrug out of the last tackle and scramble over.
Another attacking scrum saw Hughes feed Robinson, who stepped through two defenders heading towards the posts, then drifted back left and put returning reserve lock Peter Travis Hay-Horton over in the same corner as Pogia, with Harding shaking off two misses to again convert from touch.
Tikoisolomone got free to charge down the far wing, with the ball eventually transferred back the other way as Hughes and reserve Troy Brown set Robinson free to bring up the half century in the 61st minute.
As the pace slowed, a few mistakes and penalties crept into Wanganui's games, and King Country gave themselves an outside chance at a bonus point when a strong one-handed run by centre Alefosio Tapili put them on attack.
The run was followed up by reserve Whakataki Cunningham, Tuivanavou and Reihana, before reserve forward Jamin Pinkerton was driven over by his support players for their third try with six minutes left.
But Wanganui would have the final say, as Lane recovered from a bump to his eye to score after Horrocks and Brown attacked the line from a penalty lineout win.
Wanganui 57 (V Tikoisolomone 2, J Hughes, E Meleisia, A Pogia, L Horrocks, P Hay-Horton, E Robinson, J Lane tries; N Harding 6 con) bt King Country 19 (D Ross, A Thrupp, J Pinkerton tries; E Reihana 2 con). HT: 28-14.
The track is set to be resurfaced for the first time since 2012.