Running twice as fast on the hamster wheel just to stay in the same place, Steelform Whanganui cannot just take their bus trip to Levin in their stride on Saturday morning.

The penultimate round of the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship also doubles as Whanganui’s second defence of the Bruce Steel Memorial Cup in their derby with Horowhenua-Kapiti, both teams having had convincing wins over the other cup contender in Wairarapa Bush.

In fact, sixth placed Horowhenua-Kapiti (3-3) signalled they do not want to miss playoff rugby like in 2023 – having selected a number of newcomers to become quite a different squad from the side Whanganui defeated 55-19 last year, when centre Alekesio Vakarorogo scored a record five tries.

The biggest new arrival is the dynamic 27-year-old forward Alex Fidow – 25 Super Rugby games for the Hurricanes (2018-22) and 56 NPC caps for Wellington and North Harbour.

He joins a squad with other well-credentialed players like first-five Brandyn Laursen (Wellington 2021, five games), and local legends like veteran forward David McErlean (81 games) and winger Willie Paia'aua (Manawatu 2012-14, 56 Heartland games, 21 tries).

Last Sunday on the hallowed turf of Eden Park, Horowhenua-Kapiti rose to the moment against the dominant South Canterbury, winning the second half before narrowly going down 28-24.

“There’s probably [times] South Canterbury left a few tries out there, but HK have attacking ability – we have to be on our game,” said Whanganui coach Jason Hamlin.

“That halfback and first-five, they tap-and-go, move the ball from anywhere.

“There’s definitely [commitment], you can see the start of the Heartland season they were getting a few close games.

“We’ve got to get it right, defensively.”

Whanganui receives a big boost this week with the return of 17-game prop Raymond Salu, who has battled a calf muscle infection for much of the season – getting just one hit-out over the past three months for the Whanganui Development XV back on August 31st, where he scored a try.

Being a front-rower, Hamlin said they can add Salu to the roster now and he remains eligible to play in the upcoming semifinals.

“He’s missed a fair chunk of footy so he’s not going to be as sharp as other years, but he’s got that x-factor.

“We’ll get him on the park and get some miles in his legs.”

Salu rejoining the incumbent props in Gabriel Hakaraia, Kamipeli Latu and Keightley Watson therefore means someone else has to step aside, with Hamlin acknowledging the important contributions this campaign of Kereti Tamou (six games) and apprentice Joseph Cowley, who impressed on debut off the bench last Saturday.

“It’s not easy in that apprentice place – Joe Crowley, and Joseph Abernethy had a few more opportunities, but they’ve come to every training.”

Having picked up a couple of light injuries last weekend and following the rigorous work in building up fitness in the last 6-7 weeks of training, Hamlin said they will start tapering that off and focus more on game preparation, looking to keep the legs fresh for the big upcoming matches.

But given table leaders South Canterbury and third-placed Thames Valley have fairly straight-forward assignments in their last two games, Whanganui knows they cannot take the foot off the pedal in the race for a home Meads Cup semifinal.

“Every game at this time of year is important,” said Hamlin.

“The message is that for as well as we’ve worked, we can’t afford any drop off now.

“Worst case scenario, we go to the Lochore [semfinals] if you don’t get it right.

 “One poor performance could cost you a home came late in the year.”

“It will be nice to keep ‘Brucie’ away and take it off the table.

Kickoff is at 2.30pm at Levin Domain.

By Jared Smith