Border vs Ruapehu report

By Jared Smith

Player retention, or lack thereof, in the wake of Covid-19 will prove to be a decisive factor in regards to who lifts the Tasman Tanning Premier crown, if the season opener in Waverley was any judge today.

A very familiar-looking Waverley Harvesting Border outfit that has only added to its strength met a McCarthy’s Transport Ruapehu squad entering a stage of rebuilding and the result was a ten tries to two blowout, the home side romping away to a 58-13 victory in their first 2020 defence of the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield.

While Ruapehu welcomed some quality talent like first-five Aaron Paranihi from Counties, while former Steelform Wanganui prop Tawhio Gupwell has come back from Horowhenua-Kapiti, their backline was seriously undermanned – necessitating flanker Jamie Hughes playing at second-five while club legend Andrew Evans came out of retirement to cover fullback.

Add in their sole remaining incumbent Wanganui back Troy Brown gutting through only the first half on a pulled hamstring, and Ruapehu lacked for speed and experience against a Waverley side renowned for their attacking chip kicks and lightning islander pace.

Harnessing prolific try-scoring winger Vereniki Tikoisolomone and promising new centre Alekesio Vakarorogo, Border’s brain trust of the double try-scorers in halfback Lindsay Horrocks and first-five Craig Clare were absolutely ruthless and pinpoint in their execution – finding open space either over the top or sniping through despairing dives in the first line of defence.

Border had depth on the bench to keep the momentum up as Wanganui lock Sam Madams has returned from Marist, although the locals had to groan as virtually straight after he ran onto the field after halftime he was off behind the posts for ten minutes, with Ruapehu halfback and former rep team mate Josh Fifita also going to the other end, following a dust up at the break down.

The former Highlander in Clare was in his element; using his vision and the sense of extra time that professionals always seem to have to pivot off both shoulders and sweep through tacklers.

Easily the fastest player on the field, Tikoisolomone flew onto three pinpoint kicks and a cut out pass respectively to run in a quartet of tries.

For Ruapehu, prop Gabriel Hakaraia has taken much more responsibilities in the pack, including the lineout throws, while try-scoring skipper Campbell Hart tried to hold back the tide, and reserve winger Corey Carmichael set up a fine try for fellow winger Royce Trow on fulltime.

It was nonetheless a very uncharacteristic scoreline against Ruapehu, and coach Kim McNaught said the players who did front were likely to be the best they’ve got for 2020.

“The days of ringing Peter Rowe and Shaun McDonough, those days are gone now.

“We’re pretty much trying to rebuild, trying to get college kids through, we had two college kids today on debut for the club.

“Every club’s going to go through it, before the Covid we were looking pretty good, we had guys, some classy backs.

“But just the Covid hit and the loss of the Heartland [Championship] deterred them back to the Senior comp [for clubs] where they live, so it’s pretty tough.

“We come down here, we knew it was going to be tough, they’re a class outfit, especially with guys like Lindsay and Chop [Clare] guiding that ship, it’s hard work.

“We put a stake in the ground – we’re here, we didn’t fold for the season, we can only get better.”

For a team eager to get back into the Grand Final they lost in extra time in 2019, new Border coach Cole Baldwin was not about to get over-excited about such a big win against their traditional foe.

“I thought the set piece was quite good, there’s still a lot of opportunities we let go out there, probably another 6-7 tries that we wasted.

“Got to be a bit harder on ourselves if we want to be that team to beat this year, but it’s a good starting point.”

Baldwin was pleased that the squad continuity and timing was still there from 2019.

“People probably don’t realise how hard we’ve been working, they haven’t been having it easy so still a fair bit to work on, but we’ll get there.”

Border’s opening try was classic execution and the rep players led the way, with Clare working the blindside to Tikoisolomone, who offloaded in the cover tackle for flanker Angus Middleton to brush through two young players and score, with second-five Nick Harding adding the extras.

An overthrown Ruapehu lineout inside their own 30m set up another Border chance, with Clare assessing his options and then just cutting straight through the middle to leave tacklers on the deck on his way to the posts for 14-0.

If Border have a weakness, it is their propensity to give away penalties at the ruck, and Ruapehu were able to close the gap with a chance in front for Paranihi at 14-3 after 16 minutes.

But the visitors would get no closer as Clare punched through an attacking kick that took a bad bounce away from a sliding Evans, with Vakarogo right there to toe ahead and just dive on the ball before the dead-ball line.

A penalty let Border set a 5m lineout and the forward pack loved that they drove through the mountain men, with Horrocks at the back to score.

Not letting up, Horrocks took the pass off the back of an attacking scrum from No 8 Renato Tikoisolomone and his chip kick was pinpoint for the younger brother Vereniki to dot down right on halftime.

Ruapehu got an attacking penalty, but their attempt to spread the ball was thwarted by a turnover from Border winger Tom Symes, who fed Horrocks to dash 75m and score in the corner with the cover unable to run him down in time for 36-3.

Clare tried another long chip kick and just like the Meads Cup semifinal win over Thames Valley, Vereniki Tikoisolomone came from a long way back to fly past the turning fullback in Evans  – diving to get a forearm to the ball right before the dead-ball paint.

It was starting to get embarrassing as Border swiftly got back into Ruapehu’s half and Clare spied another half-gap to run into and shrug off tacklers for his double – the visitors lucky that Harding (3-8) was having a slightly off-day with the boot.

The scuffle which led to the double sinbinning saw Ruapehu get a penalty and briefly they looked like the team of old – working up from the lineout with swift recycling, and although Middleton did well to prevent a barge over, the ball was brought back for Hart to have another crack and drive over the chalk for 46-8.

Border subbed several of their leading lights, but others were still out there as from a 5m scrum win, Clare fired the long pass to Tikoisolomone and no-one was going to stop him with that much room to move.

Reserve first-five Jack Lupton then got in on the act of attacking kicks and his grubber was snatched up by Tikoisolomone to break through the last line and run back to the posts to reward Lupton with an easy conversion.

A proud club, Ruapehu never quit trying and got a little consolation on fulltime when Hart opened up a path through tacklers, and when the ball was spread, Carmichael produced a great catch and offload to put Trow away in the corner.

Border 58 (V Tikoisolomone 4, L Horrocks 2, C Clare 2, A Middleton, A Vakarorogo tries; N Harding 3 con, J Lupton con) bt Ruapehu 13 (C Hart, R Trow tries; A Paranihi pen). HT: 31-3.