Once they got over their stage fright, Steelform Whanganui put on a fine opening act to the Bunnings Heartland Championship with a 39-21 win over North Otago at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.

Down 21-10 in the 30th minute after making a handful of key errors and having to work hard to contain North Otago’s big tight five forwards, Whanganui not only took the lead before halftime but held their opposition to a scoreless second stanza, while pulling away to take maximum points from the season opener.

It was the visitors turn to make crucial errors in the final quarter of the match, while Whanganui’s security around the ruck tightened up and they got a lift from their utility reserve backs coming on late in the piece.

Fittingly, after their earlier defensive lapses, it was the forwards holding up North Otago’s pack off the ground right on their tryline to deny them even a bonus point which brought about the end of the match.

Slotting back in at first-five after missing the preseason, Dane Whale looked confident with ball in hand and off the boot – pulling a couple of old-school drift and passes to long-time team mate Alekesio Vakarorogo, who hit his lines perfectly to score a double - lifting his career tally to a phenomenal 40 tries in 43 first-class games.

Former Manawatu representative fullack Adam Boult, who did not take the goal-kicks in preseason, stepped up to the mark and confidently slotted the first six of his seven attempts as part of a 24-point haul, also backing up line breaks for a double.

Ranging in ages from 22 through to 36-years-old in the case of prop Ross McDonald, who lives the adage of never being too old to give up on your dream, Whanganui’s nine debutants had matches to remember, although coach Jason Hamlin will definitely provide them with a list of work-on’s at training.

Best of the visitors were their powerful loose forwards in Mitch Morton and try-scorer Junior Fakatoufifita, while props Kelepi Funaki and Paea Pala led the charge early when their side held the advantage.

“We were ready to play but I think we were a bit slow off the jump on it,” said Hamlin.

“Our structure looked good in terms of defence and even attack when we held the ball and played some footy.

“Mistakes don’t help us. Two tries from the ruck because there was nobody sitting in the boot.

“There’s no special recipe to it all, it’s just hard work, a bit of sacrifice and playing smart, and we did that for the most part in the second half.

“We didn’t have to say a great deal, just reiterating a few points at halftime, just getting them to collect themselves, gather their feet, collect themselves, go out and play some code.

“Enough, coach-speak wise, that I can put some acid on them on Tuesday around the stuff that I didn’t like and that’s not a negative sense – just getting people in the right places and asking the boys to work a little bit harder.”

New captain Doug Horrocks felt his side was not far off even early on when a couple of 50-50 moments led to mistakes and put the pressure on.

“I was pleased with our defence on the whole - the second half holding them to nil was pleasing.

“Our errors probably broke our continuity up a bit and didn’t let us push the ball as wide and as often as we wanted, where the holes were.”

The skipper also gave a thumbs up to the debutant contingent.

“Everyone was rock solid and a few boys made big impacts, obviously Adam Boult played the higher level and that showed today.

“I thought Rehimana [Meihana] especially was composed when he came on the field at No9, as a young guy it was pleasing to see with him thrown in the fire.

“It was good to respond to the heat of that first ten minutes, show a bit of resilience, and then re-gather and go in the sheds at halftime.

“We did what we needed to, and a few goal-line stands which made the difference.”

It didn’t start that way as a spilled kickoff let North Otago into attacking position, and eventually lock Ratu Logavatu just busted through the ruck with ball in one hand, offloading to Seru Cavuilati to run in the try, converted by first-five Kenta Iemura.

Whanganui struck back quickly on their first major raid into attacking territory, with Whale running into a gap and finding Vakarorogo on his shoulder to dash under the posts.

A fumble inside their own half, however, gave North Otago good attacking position from the scrum, and after their front rowers got the gain line with their carries, the ball was sent wide, where Fakatoufifta picked it up on the bounce to dive across.

Boult replied with a penalty that just careened over off the crossbar, but when Whanganui was looking to carry out of their half, a ruck turnover saw North Otago again bust through the breakdown, this time with winger Hopoate Finau the recipient to sprint off for a converted try.

Far from being rattled, Whanganui struck back when lock Matt Ashworth stole a lineout throw off the visitors, and Whale produced another great pass inside for Boult this time to dash through for a try he converted.

Having had a tough battle with the North Otago pack, nothing could have pleased the Whanganui forwards more than the decision to go for an attacking lineout after a penalty - driving the ball on Horrocks and transferring for import hooker Matt Picard to score at the back of the maul near halftime.

A Boult penalty not long after the resumption extended the lead, and then later as the reserves were taking their places, centre Ethan Robinson busted through the line and got his arms free in the tackle to offload for his fullback to again flash under the posts.

North Otago still had their chances, debuting Whanganui second-five Shaun O’Leary dragging centre Ben Fakava out of play right at the corner flag, but then the old firm of Whale and Vakarorogo made the game safe with two minutes left with another good pass letting the try-scoring machine break through and sprint away to the line.

Whanganui 39 (A Vakarorogo 2, A Boult 2, M Picard tries; Boult 2 pen, 4 con) bt North Otago 21 (S Cavuilati, J Fakatoufifita, H Finau tries; K Iemura 3 con). HT: 24-21.
 

By Jared Smith