Whanganui rugby: Heartlands teams all in for final round

Whanganui hosts King Country in the final Heartland Championship round-robin game.

Brought to you by Whanganui Rugby

All the chips will be pushed to the middle of the table when King Country comes to Cooks Gardens for the final round-robin game of the Bunnings Heartland Championship this coming Saturday.

As well as the Bill Osborne Taonga and the “Pinetree Log” of the Sir Colin Meads Memorial, King Country still have a shot at making the Meads Cup semifinal group after they stamped out North Otago’s final playoffs hope with a 32-17 victory in Te Kūiti on Saturday.

North Otago led 17-8 at halftime, but had no answers in the second stanza.

Whanganui v King Country aside, the rest of the top four is likely set, as once again three-time defending champions South Canterbury proved they can win from anywhere, with Heartland victory 38 in a row over a defiant Ngāti Porou East Coast in the Cantabrians’ return to their official home ground Alpine Energy Stadium in Timaru.

They only need a bonus point this coming weekend against West Coast in Greymouth to finish top of the table, guaranteeing another home final if they win their semifinal.

Deadlocked 5-5 at halftime, East Coast led 15-12 until late in the game, when the “bomb squad” from South Canterbury’s deep reserve bench took control, securing a 32-15 win.

Mid Canterbury remain in the fourth spot just ahead of King Country after a big 59-14 win away to Buller in Westport.

Likely to be Whanganui’s semifinal opponent for the third straight season and fifth consecutive time overall - pre and post-Covid - are Thames Valley, who cruised to a 71-17 victory against winless Poverty Bay in Gisborne.

The other game saw Wairarapa Bush hold off West Coast 38-31 in Masterton to keep their Lochore Cup semifinal hopes alive.

Points after seven rounds: South Canterbury 35, Whanganui 31, Thames Valley 29, Mid Canterbury 25, King Country 23, West Coast 18, Horowhenua-Kāpiti 17, East Coast 15, Wairarapa Bush 12, Buller 10, North Otago 9, Poverty Bay 5.

Godfrey wins it late

Former Whanganui Collegiate old boy and current Hurricane Harry Godfrey was the toast of Hawke’s Bay after his sideline conversion after fulltime snatched a 36-35 win over Auckland in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC match in Napier on Saturday.

After missing his first three conversions, Godfrey slotted his last three, including the one that mattered.

Another Collegiate old boy in Hunter Morrison and former Steelform Whanganui prop Hadlee Hay-Horton came off the bench.