Whanganui’s Heartland Hurricanes prepare for ‘Super Rugby’ in Napier
By Jared Smith
The Heartland Hurricanes Under 20’s just couldn’t catch a solid Hawke’s Bay Under 19 squad in their final Youth Council Cup match at McLean Park on Saturday, beaten 39-27.
Played as the curtain raiser to the Ranfurly Shield game, Heartland was leading 17-12 in the last three minutes before halftime, but a missed touch-finder, fumbled kickoff, and a handful of missed tackles let the home side score twice to lead 22-17.
Going back-and-forth in the second half, Heartland closed the gap to 32-27 with 16 minutes left, but Hawke’s Bay revealed their trump card – and ironically it was a Whanganui expat.
Former Collegiate 1st XV playmaker Harry Godfrey, who played for New Zealand U20 in the winning Oceania Cup tournament and made his Bunnings Warehouse NPC debut for Hawke’s Bay in August, came on to set up one try and score another to whisk his team away.
“He cut us to threads a bit,” said Heartland Hurricanes manager Chris Back of Whanganui.
“First half, a couple of slips in concentration and they got two tries, which put us behind a bit – chasing the game.
Recovered from Covid, Whanganui’s Lafo Takiari-Ah Ching started at first-five and moved to the midfield in the second half when provincial team mate Anthony Sellers came on.
“He played very well, and Jordyn [Leiasamaivao Turvey] got a try, Tawhiwhi [Karaitiana] got a try,” said Back.
The rest of the Whanganui contingent in the squad has been Neo Tichbon, Stan Puapii, Mitai Hemi and Rehimana Meihana.
“They’ve made a couple of good gains the last couple of weeks,” said Back.
The side will go back to McLean Park this weekend for another NPC curtain-raiser game against the new Heartland Chiefs side – a squad made up of predominately Thames Valley and King Country youth players.
The fixture will be for the new Glen Osborne Cup – named after the former 19-test All Black and current Whanganui constable.
“No disrespect to the Chiefs, but [we’ve] been playing big NPC unions and their academy players,” said Back of his squad.
“The boys will be back down to their level – playing Heartland players.”
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The Air Chathams Whanganui Under 18’s won’t be going to the the Trustbank Central Secondary School Shield after a 45-28 loss to Wellington Samoa U18 at Evans Bay Park on Saturday.
Down 35-7 at halftime, Whanganui had a much stronger second stanza, but the gap was too much to make up.
Fullback Monty Sherriff scored three tries – the first from a great running line and dummy, the other two by coming up in support to finish off good buildup by his team mates.
No8 Judah Saumaisue scored from a close-range ruck, while player-of-the-day Pita Manamanaivalu slotted all four conversions.
Whanganui are scheduled to conclude their campaign at home against Horowhenua Kapiti U18.
