“At the end of the day, now we know how they felt last year.
“There’s very little between the teams.”
In a match with strong referee interpretations, the Chiefs had to overcome having four players sin-binned to the Hurricanes’ one.
This included the Chiefs being reduced to 13 players at one point with the Hurricanes leading 22-15, but despite getting back down to the try line in the slightly wet conditions, the cup-holders could not crack through for what would likely have been the winning try.
“The game drivers lost their way a little bit when the pressure came on,” Back said.
“[The team] did about 65-70 minutes of what they had learned.”
When back up to full strength, the Chiefs equalised 22-22, until the Hurricanes slotted a late penalty that they hoped would see them home, but they could not hang on.
It was a tough finish to the campaign for players and their coaching staff, which includes Waverley’s Todd Cowan, who was assistant to head coach Darren Larsen for the second season.
Of the Whanganui players, Chad Whale (Taihape) and Keane Metekingi (Border) played the full match at first five and lock respectively, while flanker Jeff Dorset (Marist Knights) went hard for his 60 minutes.
Fullback Remy Early (Hunterville), midfielder Akiwa Koro (Marist) and prop Sid Diamond (Hunterville) were unavailable due to injury.
Next on the agenda will be the New Zealand Heartland U20 side taking on the New Zealand Māori U18s in Hamilton on October 6, with a finalised squad expected to be confirmed this week.
Heartland wrap
The “Big Three” of the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship appear set to lock down those spots for the third consecutive season as the run to the semifinals begins in earnest.
Both Steelform Whanganui’s upcoming opponent Wairarapa Bush and third-placed Thames Valley’s recent victims Ngāti Porou East Coast set unique Heartland records last weekend – both raising the largest totals scored by a losing side.
Thames Valley travelled to Ruatōria and took a 60-45 victory, while on the fast-running artificial turf in Masterton, Horowhenua-Kāpiti won the derby clash with Wairarapa-Bush 62-45 in another match with more than a century of points.
The Ruatōria result meant Mid Canterbury stayed in the Top 4 despite their 48-26 loss to Whanganui, with Thames Valley leapfrogging them to sit two points back from the team to whom they lost the Bill Osborne Taonga.
Naturally on top is South Canterbury, who it seemed might finally sign off on the longest winning streak in New Zealand provincial rugby when they trailed North Otago 28-5 in the first half of the big Hanan Shield clash in Temuka.
Instead, the indomitable Cantabrians had closed the deficit to 11 points by halftime and controlled the second half for a 44-31 triumph – their near mythical ability to win games that surely seem lost carrying them to their 36th consecutive victory since 2019.
South Canterbury will now play a unique match – with Horowhenua Kāpiti having arranged to take their home game up to Eden Park as part of a triple-header with Farah Palmer Cup and NPC matches at the game’s national headquarters.
Having moved up the standings into the home Lochore Cup semifinal spot and just outside fourth place, Horowhenua-Kāpiti have everything to play for in these next two games, hosting Whanganui the following week, as do northern neighbours King Country, who kept momentum with a 43-17 home win over West Coast, and will play Whanganui in their last round-robin game.
Points after five rounds: South Canterbury 25, Whanganui 21, Thames Valley 19, Mid Canterbury 15, East Coast 15, Horowhenua-Kāpiti 14, King Country 13, West Coast 11, Buller 10, North Otago 8, Wairarapa Bush 7, Poverty Bay 5.
