Whanganui Women rack up record score at Cooks Gardens
By Jared Smith
The Chesters Plumbing and Bathroom Whanganui Women finished their unbeaten North Island Heartland Series round robin with what is believed to be a record score on Saturday.
Hosting the long-travelling Ngāti Porou Hamoterangi (East Coast) at Cooks Gardens, Whanganui cut loose to race away for 13 tries in a 79-0 blowout – no-one able to recall in previous seasons the Senior Women’s team scoring that many points.
After a few mistakes each way to start the game, Whanganui kept the pressure on and eventually prop Kim Hunt drove over to score, winger Alice Ireton slotting the first of five conversions from six attempts.
Keeping East Coast on their line, winger Waimanawa Potaka-Osborne Whanarere ran back a shallow clearance, with flanker Samara Pahl-Log having a crack and offloading over the top, before the support players put it through the hands for second-five Leez Nepia to score.
That opened the floodgates as standout flanker Anahera Hamahona dashed through a gap from deep in her own half, beating tacklers as she ran back to the centre and put first-five Riana Tamati away under the posts for a brilliant try.
Knowing that one broken tackle out wide could lead to points with the gas they had, from a scrum near halfway Whanganui spread to fullback Paris Munro, who dashed outside the cover and burned them off before running back behind the posts.
Whanganui were in again just before halftime as Hamahona tore through another hole and ran under the posts.
Again, coming out of the break it took a few minutes for Whanganui to string chances together, but when they did they were away as centre Keira J Mete-Renata beat her marker to run off and score to raise 40 points.
Unfortunately for Hamoterangi, Whanganui making substitutions made it worse, as their stacked bench contained a number of regular starters eager to prove their fitness ahead of the final in Taupo.
Reserve prop Waimarie Rauhina worked down the far flank and put Nepia through to dash off for her double, and then fellow reserve front rower Lavenia Nauga-Grey ran the same play for Hamahona to show a clean pair of heels – with Keisha Campbell coming on to take over the kicking for Ireton.
Campbell then attacked down the wing and beat two tacklers before twisting through the last line of cover to get the ball down, while No8 Hayley Gabriel came down the other flank and just fended off her marker to sprint away for 64-0.
The hits kept coming as Nauga-Grey and Hamahona showed quick hands for Campbell to race in untouched for her double, while Mete-Renata busted through a demoralised defensive line to become the fourth player to get two tries.
Finally, reserve fullback Georgia Adams, who did not start the game due to feeling unwell, showed no signs of fatigue when she broke through a tackle on halfway and outstripped everyone to score.
The game was ended a few minutes early due to East Coast injuries, or else it was likely a couple more tries would have been scored.
But for coach Junior Nepia, the main thing was he had his full strength squad again after resting some in the last couple of games.
“It’s great to see a couple of them – Te Amorangi [Karaitiana], Brookie [Brooklyn Walker], Keisha back full-running.
“Still building for next week, but it was good to tick boxes, particularly around knowing we could use width.
“We’ve got the likes of Anahera, and Samara, Hayley floating around out wide, if not to drag in numbers and punch holes, then to clean and support.”
That kind of performance was going to make it hard for the coach and his team to choose the squad for the championship final in Taupo on Saturday.
“We’ve got two to come back, De-Ann [Tyrell]’s our main one. Out of a squad of 26, we’ll have to go to 23, which is unfortunate.
“But they’re very-much, 100 per cent, team [focused] and we’ve talked to them about still having a role, still having a job. That doesn’t go away, but otherwise it’s a great problem to have.”
While Whanganui were already locked into their final spot, they had to see which one of the Waikato country unions would join them, and the King Country Trailblazers emerged with a 37-27 win over the Thames Valley Vixens in Te Kuiti.
“We’d anticipated [playing] KC, just as a collective between myself and Maze [Koro], we’ve watched a bit of their footage so little bits and pieces that we wanted to try today that we thought would go a little bit further next week,” said Nepia.
Whanganui 79 (L Nepia 2, A Hamahona 2, K Campbell 2, K Mete-Renata 2, K Hunt, R Tamati, P Munro, H Gabriel, G Adams tries; A Ireton 5 con, Campbell 2 con) bt Ngāti Porou Hamoterangi 0. HT: 33-0.
HAPPENINGS
HURRICANES: Five Whanganui Collegiate 1st XV players have been named for the Hurricanes Under 18 Development camp. They will be among 50 who will attend the camp, October 3-6, based at teh NZ Campus of Innovation & Sport in Trentham. On October 7, a playing group will play the Crusaders U18’s in Blenheim. The players are Pita Manamanaivalu, Rudy Ioasa, Oscar Mabin, James Hardy and Jack McCarthy.
HEARTLAND HURRICANES: The Heartland Hurricanes Under 20’s and their Whanganui contingent of players were able to retain the Glen Osborne Cup in a thriller with the Heartland Chiefs on Friday night. A conversion from the sideline sealed a 24-22 victory. Whanganui’s Todd Cowan was assistant coach, while Chris Back was manager.
NZ UNDER 18 MAORI: Three members of the successful Chesters Plumbing & Bathroom Whanganui team have been selected for the NZ Under 18 Ngā Māreikura Girls team for their fixture with NZ Barbarians U18 in October. They are Anahera Hamahona (Ngā Tūwharetoa/Ngāti Hine/Ngāti Maniapoto), Hayley Gabriel (Ngā Rauru) and Waimare Rauhina (Te Iwi Mōrehu/Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Te Atihaunui-A-Pāpārangi).
UNDER 18: The Air Chathams Whanganui Under 18’s bounced back from their heavy loss to Hawke’s Bay Saracens U18’s to defeat Horowhenua-Kapiti U18 by 34-12 at Spriggens Park on Saturday. The team will conclude their season against Wairarapa Bush U18 in Masterton on Saturday.
UNDER 16: The AGC Training Whanganui Under 16 followed up their 1-1 record at the Heartland tournament the previous weekend with a 33-24 win over Horowhenua-Kapiti at Spriggens Park on Saturday. The Longrun Spouting Whanganui U16 Girls completed has had a very busy week of games. After victory over Thames Valley last week, on Wednesday night the side played Taranaki in Waverley, losing 27-19. On Saturday, the team defeated Wairarapa Bush 63-12 at the Kaierau Country Club.
WAQAICECE: Former Whanganui Collegiate 1st XV back Epeli Waqaicece has been named in the Fijian Drua for next season’s Super Rugby Pacific competition. Part of Collegiate’s 2020-21 teams, Waqaicece moved to Manawatu, making the 2022 New Zealand Under 19’s and playing for the Manawatu Turbos.
