Taihape leave no doubt in semifinal shutout of Kaierau

Somewhere out there is the beast and he’s hungry tonight.

• King, Platoon (1986)

By Jared Smith

Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau had hoped to make figurative lightning strike twice in a week, but when the real storm came in at Memorial Park, all they had done was wake up a sleeping giant.

Byford’s Readimix Taihape extracted a fierce toll for losing the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield last Saturday as they booked their third Tasman Tanning Premier final berth in four years with a 54-3 shutout in front of a healthy home crowd.

It would be simple to say that as the rain bucketed down midway through the first half and did not let up into seven minutes after halftime that Taihape, with an all-representative level forward pack, could not be beaten as the best wet weather football team in Premier.

Kaierau were also stung by having to go without pivotal lock Josh Lane and utility back Cody Hemi before the match due to Covid-19, while captain Ethan Robinson came out of the match before halftime with a busted shoulder.

However, the reality is the  visitors could not find their intensity and dropped off way too many tackles to stay competitive – Taihape loose forward’s charging through gaps in the line to lay on three early tries as 17-3 meant the home side scored as many points in the first 20 minutes as they managed in the whole 80 the weekend before.

If conventional thinking states that a muddy field stifles outside backs, then nobody bothered to explain those physics to Taihape fullback Tyler Rogers-Holden.

The fullback was dominant from start to finish, as Taihape could to afford to substitute off several other leading figures early in the game with such a big lead.

Rogers-Holden slashed his way through the middle and found gaps on the wings, while his chip kicks with the wind behind him had Kaierau’s back three scrambling throughout the second half.

Lock Peter-Travis Hay-Horton would have given Rogers-Holden a nudge for man of the match as in the absence of Lane he dominated around the fringes – clearing the advantage line and offloading smartly.

Prop Gabriel Hakaraia won’t be caught for the season’s top try scorer – he is virtually unstoppable from tryline rucks, especially when the muscle gets in behind him, and two more tries took him to 12 for the short season.

Matt Brown pinched a few lineouts, although there was a ripple of concern in the Taihape camp when he also chose to come off early with an slight injury.

For Kaierau, struggling to clear their own half throughout or losing impetus quickly after a home side mistake or penalty, lock Matt Ashworth did all he could in the absence of others, while goal-kicking second-five Brooklyn Herewini and his fellow youngster in fullback Anthony Sellers had a lot of responsibility thrust upon them without Hemi and Robinson.

Sporting the red badge of courage on his forehead, No8 Joe Edwards swam against the tide, while halfback Caleb Gray, flanker Woody Martin and centre Dillon Adrole tried to make moments as individuals.

But co-coach Tony McBride had hoped for so much more.

“I think we beat ourselves in that game. We didn’t bring our intensity, we didn’t stick to our patterns – things we’ve worked on.

“We talked about, during the week, taking our 70% performance from last week up to 90%, but we weren’t able to do that.

“We went backwards, maybe to 50% of what we’re capable of. It’s finals and you’ve just got to give it everything and we didn’t today, and good luck to Taihape next week.”

Although not getting back to the final they broke through to reach in 2021, McBride and co-coach Te Ahu Teki have completed their debut season in charge, and will now set their plans for 2023.

“We’ve had a very unlucky season in terms of losing players at key times through either cards, or being not allowed to play, or injury or Covid,” said McBride.

“We’ve not really had the roll of the dice that you do need for sport, no matter what code it is, you’ve got to have a little bit of things go your way, and it’s just been one of those seasons where we haven’t had that happen.”

For Taihape coach Tom Wells, who changed his initial plans to stay on for 2022, he was pleased Taihape have put the ghost of 2021’s shock upset to Kaierau behind them, as well as the previous weekend’s surprise result.

“Obviously the boys were hurting, but it probably did us a favour.

“The boys playing at home in front of a big crowd and they were up and into it.”

It had been a full 22-man effort, even after wholesale changes early in the second half Taihape wore Kaierau back down to score three more late tries, but Rogers-Holden deserved to be singled out.

“He’s been pretty good the past few years and again today he was exceptional. He’ll keep his job in the mean time with me.”

And of course, once again the ‘super clash’ is on: Premier’s biggest rivalry of Taihape vs Border will play out yet another chapter, with Taihape looking match fit.

“A couple of stingers but nothing serious. No cards, that’s the main thing, so we’ll be all available if we get around flu’s and all of that.”

Coming off a penalty lineout, Taihape flanker Regan Collier broke deep into Kaierau’s territory, with Hay-Horton carrying it on, before veteran winger Jaye Flaws was on the spot at the tryline breakdown to score.

Kaierau replied with a Herewini penalty, but the home town forwards just got straight back to work as flanker Jamie Hughes dashed to the line, and Hakaraia was right there to burrow his way over.

Needing to strike back, Kaierau had a penalty lineout on attack, but Brown swiped it off them and Rogers-Holden cut through to run deep into the visitors 22m, setting up winger Tiari Mumby who had his ankle clipped by a diving Sellers, but just bounced back up to score.

First-five Dane Whale, who celebrated the birth of his second child before the game, slotted a penalty to take his side well clear, and his younger brother Ben gave him another present after following on from another Rogers-Holden burst to carry to line, where winger Harry Unsworth made a great tackle, but could not prevent the Whale to Whale pass for the try.

The rain gave way to sun after halftime as the cautious Whale just nudged another penalty to extend Taihape’s lead, but any thoughts of another miracle for Kaierau were dissipated by Rogers-Holden, who got free on the wing and chipped ahead, making the tackle in the corner.

From the lineout, Taihape drove hooker Roman Tutauha over to make the game beyond safe at 35-3.

Tutauha couldn’t believe the luck for his double as he was jogging back from a long Kaierau clearing kick, only to watch Rogers-Holden run from his 30m right through all the Kaierau chasers to draw the last man and put the front rower over.

After setting up multiple tries, Rogers-Holden deserved his own and Taihape provided him the opportunity as they pinned Kaierau in their half, unable to carry out, and when the turnover came they worked through the pack before spreading for their fullback to step inside and dive under the cover tacklers.

Taihape weren’t done, as right on fulltime a 5m scrum let them rumble up for Hakaraia to get his double.

Taihape 54 (G Hakaraia 2, R Tutauha 2, J Flaws, T Mumby, D Whale, T Rogers-Holden tries; Whale 2 pen, 4 con) bt Kaierau 3 (B Herewini pen). HT: 27-3.