Rugby: Whanganui climb to second spot with win over Wairarapa Bush
Whanganui captain Dane Whale brought up 75 games with the union on Saturday. Photo / NZME
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Steelform Whanganui have a share of second place on the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship table after ending Wairarapa Bush’s winning streak at home with a 36-18 win on Saturday.
With the first of consecutive Bruce Steel Memorial Cup defences complete, Whanganui will now put the silverware back on the line in their final regular season game against Horowhenua-Kapiti this coming weekend.
In fluctuating wet-weather conditions on the unique artificial turf, Whanganui won the key periods with a great start to both halves and a strong finish to the first - a big captain’s gamble on not taking a straightforward three points in favour of a forwards drive to the tryline and the chance to take a somewhat-flattering 15-13 lead.
Before that, some committed Wairarapa Bush tackling and good percentage rugby - with kicking pressure on the high-bouncing turf, led by their former Māori All Black and Hurricanes first five Andre Taylor - had the hosts out to a concerning 13-5 advantage.
Taylor scored 13 points, including a 60-metre intercept try, while Whanganui’s backline was a little flat and had their timing just a half-step off, throwing a handful of accidental forward passes.
But getting back to territory domination at the back end of the first stanza, thanks in no small part to their domination of the scrum, earning a number of penalties, Whanganui had the chance to close the gap to two points - yet, calling on his 75 games of experience, Dane Whale took a moment’s serious thought and listened to his forwards’ request.
They delivered with a superb corner lineout drive for hooker Alesana Tofa to score at the back in this starting debut, with Whale then slotting the extras on a difficult angle to flip the momentum.
The visitors then came out with a hiss and a roar to start the second half, lock Josh Lane burrowing over after a long attacking raid, and then fullback Peceli Malanicagi, very comfortable on the running track field, attacked down the touchline from deep in his own half and produced a superb in-and-away to clear the last defenders and score in the corner, with Whale (five from six) landing another clutch kick.
As the rain intensified, both sides struggled to get past each other, although Whanganui’s bench players gave them a good lift, especially in the scrum as no quality is sacrificed from the No 1 prop to the No 4.
Finally, centre Alekesio Vakarorogo busted through the middle and put speedy reserve winger Eben Classen away beside the posts for a 60m try, his first at Heartland level.
Classen had replaced the hardworking Lindsay Horrocks, who set forth a lot of attacking and clearing kicks, while producing another classic reverse flick pass right at the tryline - this week it was flanker Samu Kubunavanua who was the willing recipient.
Another intercept - although this time the cover defence ran them down - eventually led to a try on fulltime by Wairarapa Bush reserve back Sam Walton Sexton, but the clock had run out as the home side was consigned to trying to focus on making the Lochore Cup group next week.
Coach Jason Hamlin was pleased with the adjustments made before and after the break, after a frustrating third quarter with line balls being pulled up.
“We’ve been creeping a little, and obviously the Wairarapa defence was very good in the first instance when they were putting a lot of pressure on us, and we didn’t adjust to that as well as I would have liked to see us do in the first half,” Hamlin said.
“But we spoke about it at halftime, and we held a bit more depth, a bit cleaner in that execution.
“The disappointing thing for us is they scored two tries off our intercepts. [We must] take those cheap points away from people.
“The effort’s there, so not necessarily playing harder, but playing smarter, and if we do that we give ourselves every chance to progress in the game.
“We’re heading to the business end of the season. If we can get in that top two, it would be lovely.”
Hamlin had a lot of praise for workhorse flanker Jamie Hughes, who was everywhere around the park and, despite the turf not being a nice landing, was constantly tackling around the bootlaces and hounding the breakdowns.
“He’s an unsung hero [in] that regard. He gets out there and he gets through a load of work and gets through it all the time, and you don’t have to talk to him too much about it,” Hamlin said.
“You get what you expect out of him, week after week. That’s probably [the] thing around all these boys.
“We know what we can expect out of them, and if they don’t hit their mark, it’s not asking questions, it’s probably just showing them and once we show them that, those things that were issues then generally don’t become issues much more.”
For captain Whale, his 75th match starts a fortnight of very significant milestones, as Horrocks and reserve hooker Roman Tutauha played their 99th and 98th games respectively.
“Seventy-five, it’s a bit of an in-betweener,” Whale said.
“It was looming during the year, a funny one to tick off, but all-in-all, pretty cool.”
When the backline adjusted to their new dynamic, the passes were hitting the chest in space with proper timing, or at least far enough back that there was time to get the steam up when meeting the defensive line.
“I take my hat off to Wairarapa, they definitely put a lot of pressure on our forward carries,” Whale said.
“Our forward carries have been getting that gain-line in the last couple of weeks, and I think as a backline we’ve been creeping with it.
“It was still there but not as much, and we’re still creeping so passes start going in front, just that half a second in front of everything.
“But in earlier games, we were in those same situations and ending up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.”
Whale praised his forwards for repaying the faith of going for the 39th-minute try - those seven points worth their weight in gold.
“The call before halftime was a huge one - not to hit the three - but that’s one of those things, I’m proud of the boys to be able to pull together and put that play into [action].
“They were all behind me, I could hear them saying they wanted to go to the corner, so you got to back your boys.
“That was probably the moment of the match for me, because that really just drilled the sword right in, just to lead us into that second half to be a little more relaxed, and then we could just start getting on top of them.”
All the props - Hadlee Hay-Horton, Raymond Salu, Gabriel Hakaraia and Konradd Newland - can be pleased with the scrum work.
“Little bit of an attitude switch there, I think when they really wanted to, they could [dominate], so I’m glad that clicked on,” said Whale.
“Week by week for us, it was a humdinger for us, having such a slow start, so it is a very humble team, so one to tick off and work towards next week.”
Whanganui 29 (S Kubunavanua, A Tofa, J Lane, P Malanicagi, E Classen tries; D Whale pen, 4 con) bt Wairarapa Bush 18 (A Taylor, S Walton-Sexton tries; Taylor 2 pen, con). HT: 15-13.
