Victorious! Butcher Boys lift Lochore Cup

OAMARU, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 26: Lindsay Horrocks of Wanganui looks to pass the ball during the Lochore Cup Final match between North Otago and Wanganui on October 26, 2014 in Oamaru, New Zealand.

It has been a golden year for neighbouring North Island rugby unions with Taranaki, Wanganui and Manawatu scooping three of the four national men's inter-provincial championship titles last weekend.
Four Canterbury franchise unions claimed all the limelight last season with Canterbury (ITM Cup premiers), Tasman (ITM championship consolation), Mid Canterbury (Pink Batts Heartland Meads Cup) and South Canterbury (Heartland Lochore Cup) claiming the honours.
This year Taranaki beat Tasman 36-32 in a thrilling ITM championship final before a packed 21,000 crowd in New Plymouth, Manawatu held out arch-rivals Hawke's Bay 32-24 in an equally close ITM consolation final at Palmerston North and Steelform Wanganui pipped North Otago 14-12 in a nail-biting wind-blown Lochore Cup final in Oamaru.
The only southern success for 2014 was Mid Canterbury's convincing 36-13 victory over previously unbeaten Buller in the Meads Cup final in Westport. That impressive victory enabled Mid Canterbury, with goal-kicking Takapuna loan first-five Murray Williams, a former NZ Under-19 and Bay of Plenty rep, the dominant force, to join Wanganui as the only two unions to win back-to-back Meads Cup championships.
Mid Canterbury, like Wanganui, has reached the Heartland play-offs every year since the competition started in 2006, winning the Meads Cup in 2013-14, finishing second in 2008-09, third in 2007, fourth in 2006-10-11, and third in the Lochore Cup in 2012.
By contrast Wanganui won the Meads Cup in 2008-09 and 2011, was second in 2006-07 and 2012, was third in the Lochore Cup last year and won the Lochore Cup last weekend.
It was a relief to see the way Wanganui, led from the front by skipper Peter Rowe in his 99th game for the union, salvaged a real topsy-turvy 2014 Heartland campaign with the slender two-point away win over the Old Golds before a disappointingly small crowd in the Lochore final.
North Otago went into the match with a 6-1 winning advantage in home games against the Butcher Boys since 2002, including 25-8 (2007) and 39-18 (2010) in Meads Cup finals, but a magnificent effort into the very strong wind in the second spell last Sunday clinched a first Lochore Cup title for Wanganui who finished the season with a five win-five loss record.
Wanganui dropped all three qualifying round games in the South Island and also went down to Horowhenua-Kapiti and King Country but picked up home wins over North Otago (20-15), East Coast (44-7) and Wairarapa-Bush (38-24) to scrape into the Lochore Cup semi-finals after a points differential count-back.
The turning point was a superb 37-6 trouncing of the King Country Rams at Te Kuiti, a week after being pipped 29-30 at the same ground. The Rams had beaten North Otago 17-14 in Oamaru which augured well for Wanganui last weekend.
But it was a real touch and go final with both teams knuckling down and playing well into the wind. After enjoying almost all of the first spell territorial honours with the advantage of the elements, but with the Old Golds on level terms (7-all) at half-time, Wanganui faced an up-hill battle in the second half.
Wanganui, however, dug deep and opened up a 14-7 advantage, which was reduced to 14-12 late in the dying stages, and then watched with anxiety as the replacement North Otago first-five missed a conversion and then a last-second 40m penalty goal.
After looking also-rans for the majority of the first two months of the season during the qualifying rounds Wanganui atoned with fine efforts against King Country and North Otago to emerge as champions.
Wanganui's record in Heartland rugby (note that the Meads Cup is a higher-tier trophy than the Lochore Cup):
2014: 1st Lochore, 5th overall, 10 points, 5 won, 0 draws, 5 lost, 254 points for, 212 points against, 34 tries.
2013: 3rd Lochore, 7th overall, 9 points, 4 won, 0 draws, 5 lost, 201 points for, 200 points against, 25 tries.
2012: 2nd Meads, 2nd overall, 10 points, 8 won, 0 draws, 2 lost, 287 points for, 182 points against, 35 tries.
2011: 1st Meads, 1st overall, 10 points, 9 won, 0 draws, 1 lost, 426 points for, 163 points against, 57 tries.
2010: 2nd Meads, 2nd overall, 10 points, 8 won, 0 draws, 2 lost, 303 points for, 197 points against, 41 tries.
2009: 1st Meads, 1st overall, 10 points, 8 won, 0 draws, 2 lost, 357 points for, 134 points against, 51 tries.
2008: 1st Meads, 1st overall, 10 points, 10 won, 0 draws, 0 lost, 420 points for, 108 points against, 63 tries.
2007: 2nd Meads, 2nd overall, 10 points, 6 won, 0 draws, 4 lost, 232 points for, 172 points against, 30 tries.
2006: 2nd Meads, 2nd overall, 10 points, 8 won, 1 draw, 1 lost, 353 points for, 179 points against, 50 tries.
Next season Wanganui will host both of the 2014 Meads Cup finalists, Buller and Mid Canterbury, at Cooks Gardens along with third-placed Poverty Bay and Lochore Cup top qualifiers King Country.
Wanganui will have only one trip to the South Island in the eight qualifying rounds, to play North Otago, compared with away trips to Ashburton (Mid Canterbury), Timaru (South Canterbury) and Greymouth (West Coast) this season plus to Oamaru for last weekend's Lochore Cup final.
In addition to returning to Oamaru next year, the Butcher Boys also face away games against Horowhenua-Kapiti, which will double as a Bruce Steel Memorial Cup challenge, Thames Valley and Wairarapa-Bush.
Horowhenua-Kapiti shot up the rankings from 11th last year to a highest overall placing of fourth after finishing with five wins, two draws and just two defeats - 19-12 and 22-15 (semi-finals), both at the hands of unbeaten Buller in Westport. Horowhenua did not strike Mid Canterbury or Poverty Bay.
Included in Horowhenua's scalps this season was a deserved 34-23 win over Wanganui, picking up a first Heartland win at Cooks Gardens and a first Steel Cup victory over the Butcher Boys.
Thames Valley, who missed out to Wanganui in qualifying for the Lochore Cup play-offs this season after a count-back of differential points, finished ninth overall in 2014 while Wairarapa-Bush suffered a dramatic fall from third in 2012 and 2013 to place 11th with the sole victory being 20-18 at home against Thames Valley, although there was also a 23-all draw against Mid Canterbury in Masterton.
Wanganui does not play struggling East Coast (bottom this year without a victory), West Coast (who dropped from fourth in 2013 to 10th) or last year's Lochore Cup winner South Canterbury (eighth this year) next season.
It all means that Wanganui faces a formidable 2015 Pink Batts Heartland qualifying series including all four Meads Cup semi-finalists from this year and all but South Canterbury from the top four Lochore Cup division.
Toss in a Ranfurly Shield challenge against Hawke's Bay (both Heartland winning unions automatically qualify) and it will be a demanding schedule.
Auckland loan second-five Rhema Sagote, one of nine players to compete in all 10 matches this year, was the leading try scorer for Wanganui with seven of the team's 34 tries - nine more than the 2013 squad scored.
Eighteen of the 29 players used collected tries with Sagote (7) and Utiku OB Fijian winger Samu Kubunavanua (4) the most prolific.
Wanganui scored six tries in three games - against East Coast, Wairarapa-Bush and King Country (semi-final) - with five (v Buller in the semis) the highest last year.
Spotswood (Taranaki) loan first-five Josh Hamilton, the leading points scorer in Taranaki club rugby this season with 206 points, who was dropped after six matches because of indifferent goal-kicking and playing form, top scored this year with 45 points (2 tries, 9 penalty goals and 4 conversions).
Fullback Ace Malo, a former Taranaki rep (38 games) who has now played 64 games for Wanganui since 2004, scored 37 points (2 tries, 3 penalties and 9 conversions) and Sagote 35 points.
¦Note: This is the final rugby column for the year.