Record breakers and upsets in Heartland semifinals
By Jared Smith (Photo by Blake Davison)
Steelform Whanganui will not only be trying to lift the Meads Cup in Pleasant Point on Saturday, they will be trying to break the longest winning streak in the history of the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship.
The reigning Meads Cup champions South Canterbury extended their undefeated record over Heartland teams to 23 straight matches, going all the way back to the Lochore Cup semifinals of 2019, after they destroyed King Country 76-9 on Saturday.
Like Whanganui’s vanquished opponent Thames Valley, the Rams wanted to qualify for the season’s biggest game in their 100th anniversary year, while also honouring their legendary prop Carl Carmichael, who was forced to retire due to injury a few weeks ago with over 100 first class caps for Tasman, Taranaki and King Country.
The visitors starting strongly in the forwards and hung with South Canterbury for as long as they could, even when reduced to 14 for a professional foul sinbinning, as first-five Quinn Collard slotted three penalties for King Country to only trail 17-9 after 36 minutes.
But industrious South Canterbury winger Kalavini Leatigaga got his second try right on halftime, taking an inside pass after previously scoring out wide, and then like they have all season – the hosts put the foot down in the second stanza.
No8 Siu Kakala was unstoppable both rampaging wide and taking a tap to charge at the posts for his two tries, while fullback Liueli Simote backed up expertly to get a hat-trick as South Canterbury piled on another 52 unanswered points, with King Country’s chances further hindered by another yellow card.
First-five Sam Briggs finished with a 21-point haul from a try and eight conversions.
The blowout moved South Canterbury to 65 tries for the season, overhauling another Whanganui-owned Heartland record of 63.
The Lochore Cup semifinals both went the way of the visiting team, setting up Ruatoria as the unlikely venue for the final as Ngāti Porou East Coast will take on Mid Canterbury.
Having results go their way to hang onto eighth place, Mid Canterbury would have felt confident heading a couple of hours south to Oamaru, given they were victorious there over North Otago in Golden Point extra time back in Week 4.
This time, there was no grandstand finish, as the Cantabrians controlled the second half to win 31-15.
Centre Raitube Vasurakuta scored two of his team’s five tries, with fullback Nathan McCloy getting another and taking over the goal-kicking from first-five Tom Reekie to slot a conversion.
North Otago came back twice to lead the game briefly, 12-7 in the first half and 15-14 in the second, but ultimately they closed out a disappointing season by their standards, losing their last two games to miss a chance at some silverware.
East Coast, however, are eyeing up their best year since the heady days of their 2012 Meads Cup win, after they won a thriller in Levin against Horowhenua-Kapiti, 37-30.
Having already locked away the Bill Osborne Taonga for the summer, East Coast got away to a strong start to lead 10-3 as halfback and captain Sam Parkes scored the first of his three tries.
Horowhenua Kapiti chased them all match, levelling 10-10 and later scoring right on halftime through winger Louis Northcott getting the first of his hat trick to close back up to 22-18.
Two more Parkes’ tries seemed to have East Coast set at 34-18, while first-five Carlos Kemp would also add his second penalty, but two more Northcott tries set up a pulsating final ten minutes.
Right on fulltime, Horowhenua-Kapiti desperately tried to get the ball wide to Northcott again, but the pass went down for East Coast to celebrate getting to host the Lochore Cup final at what will likely be a packed Whakarua Park.
Results, Semifinals
Meads Cup
South Canterbury 76 (Liueli Simote 3, Kalavini Leatigaga 2, Siu Kakala 2, Tokomaata Fakatava, Sam Briggs, Zac Saunders, Theo Davidson, Tomasi Cikaca tries; Briggs 8 con) bt King Country 9 (Quinn Collard 3 pen). HT: 24-9.
Whanganui 25 (Lindsay Horrocks, Alekesio Vakarorogo, Timoci Seruwalu tries; Ethan Robinson pen, 2 con, Dane Whale dg) bt Thames Valley 18 (Ben Stephens, Sam McCahon tries; Todd Doolan 2 pen, Zac Stephens con). HT: 12-11.
Lochore Cup
Mid Canterbury 31(Raitube Vasurakuta 2, Hunter Stewart, Jonetani Vasurakuta, Nathan McCloy; Tom Reekie 2 con, McCloy con) bt North Otago 15 (Ratu Logatavu, Mataitini Feke tries; Ben McCarthy pen, con). HT: 14-12.
Ngāti Porou East Coast 37 (Sam Parkes 3, Khian Westrupp, Joe Wadman tries; Carlos Kemp 2 pen, 3 con) bt Horowhenua Kapiti 30 (Louis Northcott 3, Darren Falaniko tries; Kody Edwards 2 pen, 2 con). HT: 22-18.
