There is no reward without work, and a steely-focused Waverley Harvesting Border finally secured a Tasman Tanning Premier victory with a rugged 26-12 home win over Tāmata Hauhā Rātana on Saturday.

Played in the first wet-weather conditions of the competition at Dallison Park, as intermittent rain and sun covered the ground in equal measure, Border were ready to go the direct route – only occasionally did they play expansively to their speedy Fijian outside backs.

It was tight play around the fringes with strong carries and turning ruck penalties into scrums where they held sway, that saw the home side starve Rātana and their talented playmakers of possession throughout the second half.

Attacking 5m scrums put impressive No8 Jay Tora in position to score two tries – the first from a switch play with centre Alekesio Vakarorogo and the second from the pack pushing their way over from the feed.

The veterans led the way – prop Ross McDonald up front with partners Brendan Hemana and Logan Mitchell laid the foundation, while flanker Renato Tikoisolomone and team player-of-the-day lock Jack Hodges took umpteenth carries to and through the line.

Even when the home side lost goal-kicker and play-maker Tyrone Albert to a blue card for a head knock, it only strengthened their resolve to play in tight through the forwards – sticking with scrums for advantageous set piece as Rātana had more success counter-attacking a few lineouts.

Outside back Silio Waqalevu showed his versatility, covering first-five after Albert’s departure and adding a conversion.

With Border carrying off the breakdown, the busiest Rātana player was always going to be player-coach and flanker Jamie Hughes, team player-of-the-day, who produced many signature chopping tackles and aggressive cleanouts.

But unfortunately, his team mates trying to turn the momentum gave away a string of penalties, as they lost flanker Robert Hughes and reserve prop Shade Tuaine-Whanau to the sinbin and then returning 2024 Steelform Whanganui outside back Mitai Hemi to a red card for a dangerous tackle, with Vakarorogo also being binned for the hosts near fulltime.

Rātana had come back at Border in the Pa with 14 men in their April matchup, and still scored two excellent tries through individual flair with a smart tap and go by halfback Petera Patea-Koro and never-give-up kick chase by winger Hawira Gardiner.

But these proved isolated moments, which Hughes acknowledged at the end.

“A few penalties cost us today, and a few dropped balls at the end there.

“Coming into halftime, I thought we were right on track to where we needed to be – getting the wind – but Border kept the ball in the second half, so you can’t win rugby without any ball.”

It puts Rātana into a must-win situation for their only home match of the second round, when they take on Byford’s Readimix Taihape in the Pa, in a match that will also be for the Barracks Challenge Shield.

“We’ve just to roll up our sleeves and get to work now, there’s nothing else – we’ve just got to win or else were not going to get there,” said Hughes.

Thanks to bonus points achieved before Saturday’s win, Border leapfrogged Rātana back into fourth spot while opening up a small gap, but more importantly, co-coach Cole Baldwin saw the improvement that could have his relatively new team in position to start getting over the Top 3 sides.

“Last time when we played them, and they were doing their little kicks, they were coming off, today it didn’t quite work for them.

“Our scrum kept us in the game, I think, and we managed to play on top of that.

“Didn’t quite convert as many opportunities into points as we would have liked, but it’s good to get the win.

Baldwin acknowledged his veteran forwards performance.

“They are playing pretty well, and you got Jay there at No8 that’s trying to get us some good go forward.

“It’s not just revolving around one or two people, forward wise we’re doing some really good things, we’re just guilty of not converting our pressure into points – hopefully we can improve on that for Marist in two weeks.

“It doesn’t have to be a run, we just have to get in the [Top] 4 - once we do that, there probably won’t be teams that want to play us in the semifinal.”

After a long process of trying to find their rhythm, Border finally opened the scoring after 25 minutes, when after carries had pulled in Rātana’s outside defenders, the ball went wide for winger Romu Senileba to dash down the sideline and get through the last tackler to score, with Albert landing an excellent conversion from near touch.

Border were straight back as an attacking kick was fumbled at the back by Rātana and then a professional foul to stop the attackers at the line saw Hughes given yellow.

Taking a scrum, Border fed Vakarogo cutting back in, who offloaded to Tora to dive through the gap for 14-0.

Rātana got a lift when a penalty on the attacking 40m with Border fullback Harry Symes having been part of the ruck, saw Patea-Koro take a quick tap and dash through an unsuspecting line to open field, finding lightning quick fullback Te Atawhai Mason in support but selling his chasers a cheeky dummy to just keep going under the posts, first-five Rehimana Mason converting to close the gap to seven points at the break.

The visitors then made great use of the wind Rehimana Mason put through a long attacking kick that rolled to the in-goal corner, and although it looked like Border had it covered to watch the ball go dead, the winger Gardner had been absolutely motoring from halfway and dived full stretch for a shock try and 14-12 comeback.

But with their season potentially on the line, Border responded by controlled possession and keeping Rātana trapped in their own half, working forward off carries, penalties and scrums, and despite losing Albert after a head knock, a 5m attacking scrum saw Tora keep the ball at his feet and force it down, with Waqalevu slotting the extras.

Rātana were then reduced to 13 men by Tuaine-Whanau’s yellow, then Hemi’s red, and the weight of territory and possession told as after Border led by Hodges drove towards the line, they transferred the ball out to reserve winger Jahstice Metekingi to score in the corner and make the game safe

Border 26 (J Tora 2, R Senileba, J Metekingi tries; T Albert 2 con, S Waqalevu con) bt Rātana 12 (P Patea-Koro, H Gardiner tries; R Meihana con). HT: 14-7.
 

By Jared Smith