Vereniki Tikoisolomone impressed with two tries in Wanganui's preseason win over Hawke's Bay Saracens in Napier today.
Vereniki Tikoisolomone impressed with two tries in Wanganui's preseason win over Hawke's Bay Saracens in Napier today.
Steelform Wanganui coach Jason Caskey had the kind of headache he enjoys this evening – who to leave out of a talented squad finding some form?
The shadow Heartland squad travelled over to Napier and picked up an impressive 36-17 win over the Hawke's Bay Saracens, the same side thathad raised a collective 154 points in two recent thrashings of Wanganui's neighbours Horowhenua-Kapiti and King Country.
Caskey and assistant coach Jason Hamlin were able to give around 25 players a run, and it will be a hard choice to cut the wider squad by four players to a final group of 30.
The only dampener was inspirational skipper Roman Tutauha was unable to travel over, as a kidney infection continued to give him trouble and was not responding to antibiotics on Thursday evening.
Tutauha stayed at Whanganui Hospital on a drip, before changing to a different course of antibiotics and was advised to rest up this weekend.
Wanganui will want their hooker and leader Roman Tutauha back to full health as soon as possible.
Clubmate Campbell Hart therefore retained the captaincy from the Taranaki Development XV game, while with Dylan Gallien still injured, Joe Edwards covered the hooker role and seized his opportunity with a very good try-scoring performance.
Confident after running up 14 tries against King Country, Saracens started strongly, keeping Wanganui under the pump for the first 10-15 minutes while registering one try – which came from a blindside attack from a scrum win.
However, overall the visitors defence was solid and Caskey said the set piece was "outstanding", with both the scrum and lineout being "top quality".
"We came back and scored 3-4 tries before they scored again.
"We had more than our share of possession.
"To be fair, some guys played their way into the squad today, which is good because they needed to."
Into the second half and Wanganui's line speed continued to cut down Saracens' options, until they managed to score again by using the width, with Caskey saying the defence out wide is still a little brittle with guys not getting around the corner.
"But all in all, not complaining too much."
After not getting to capitalise on very rare opportunities in Hawera last week, winger Vereniki Tikoisolomone stepped up with a two try performance – his first being an individual stunner from inside his own half – and could easily have got a hat trick from the other chances created.
"Very excited [for him] on a good track, which we had," said Caskey.
Mobile prop Raymond Salu came off the bench for an impact player stint and Caskey said he got a try "only he could score" by getting up to a full dash from 25m out.
Wanganui's other tryscorers were returning veteran Craig Clare and outside back turned loose forward Samu Kubunavanua.
Between them, Clare and fellow playmaker Dane Whale converted three of the six tries.
Given Saracens had been so dominant over other Heartland teams in previous weeks, Caskey remained cautious, as this was only the second preseason hit out and their neighbour unions could still be dangerous by the time Wanganui face them both in October.
It is possible a few Hawke's Bay Magpies players had been having a run in drag in those games, before the Mitre 10 Cup kicked off this weekend.
"You can't read too much into that, but we're very happy with our performance," said Caskey.
"As far as what it's worth, it's confidence for our boys. [But] can't get carried away."
Wanganui will now play Wellington Development XV at Cooks Gardens this coming Saturday.
Wanganui 36 (Vereniki Tikoisolomone 2, Joe Edwards, Samu Kubunavanua, Craig Clare, Raymond Salu tries; Clare 2 con, Dane Whale con) bt Hawke's Bay Saracens 17. HT: 19-5.
