They thankfully didn’t know it at the time, but Steelform Whanganui were standing on the knife-edge with the ball on their goal-line in the dying minutes of their physical clash with Horowhenua-Kapiti on Saturday.

As their derby match for the Bruce Steel Memorial Cup was the only 2.30pm kickoff due to the number of other Bunnings Heartland Championship games in Round 6 being earlier inter-island fixtures, the points table had all-but been completed, baring the outcome at Cooks Gardens with the home side tenaciously hanging on at 27-21.

Keep out the visitors with their powerful midfield, big ball-running pack and mercurial former test-match playmaker and Whanganui would retain their precious fourth place with a chance to push for a home Meads Cup semifinal.

Give up another converted try and they would plummet to eighth.

Instead, good pressure in the midfield saw Horowhenua-Kapiti make a rare fumble, followed by over-extending at the scrum, and Whanganui calmly carried the ball up and protected their ruck for the final 90 seconds of play to boot it out and walk away with the precious five competition points.

The strongest Horowhenua-Kapiti team to come to Cooks Gardens this decade, the visitors didn’t run a big variation of offensive plays, but what they did do was done very well.

Controlled carries, solid hits around the edges, and smart tactical kicking in the second half with the bomb-and-chase, as Whanganui’s sweepers had to spot the ball coming out of the glaring sun.

Flanker Albert Hemopo, lock Dallas Wiki, and try-scoring midfielders Emmanual Solomona and Connor Paki were a handful.

But the maestro was 43-year-old halfback Kahn Fotuali'i, 35 tests for Samoa and 36 Super Rugby games for the Crusaders, who has won professional championships in both hemispheres. 

He caught Whanganui napping a couple of times with dummy plays to instead run or pass in the opposite direction from a set pod of forwards, including fullback Sean Pape’s second-half try beside the posts.

Whanganui learnt their lesson the next time Fotuali'i was marshalling players around him on a tap kick penalty inside their 15m - the defensive line not moving an inch until he released the ball.

For the home side, hooker Alesana Tofa was very impressive going the full 80 minutes against the big visiting pack, while veteran flanker Jamie Hughes brought his signature chop tackles into play.

Other than his rough start to the second half with a fumble, flanker Ekenasio Fiso was strong and redeemed by forcing Horowhenua-Kapiti’s final error.

Coach Jason Hamlin had wanted Whanganui’s faster backs to work towards the wider channels, and that was typified by first-five Te Atawahi Mason dashing through a half-gap to finally break the deadlock in the 22nd minute, then setting up a well-worked try where he cut through the line and had both wingers in support, sending Harry Symes away to score.

Centre Alekesio Vakarorogo, who has tormented Horowhenua-Kapiti in the past, was well marked by two and three defenders at a time, but in the second half finally got his one-vs-one chance to break through and score the priceless bonus-point try.

“We probably played too direct in that first half, we were playing off the No9 and just hitting that first three defenders when we could have been shifting them a little bit more,” said Hamlin.

“I think we would have got more pay out of the edge attack, but we got there, and when we did score invariably it was playing a touch wider and running through that.”

But when it became clear Whanganui couldn’t shake the visitors, fullback Adam Boult slotting an important second half penalty but being just away with another in the 71st minute to make them safe, the team dug deep to stop Horowhenua-Kapiti right on their tryline, then force an error and work their way out of danger.

“Good character, we talked about the last time we were here and our second half performance wasn’t what we deem to be acceptable,” said Hamlin.

“That was a bit of a driver for us today, and you could see that character in them, shining through the jersey.

“The players are driving that stuff too, they understand what it is.

“The boys are doing jobs, Jonty [Bird]’s got a bit about him, he comes on and settles that one aspect of play, a couple of steals there and he made them send more players into the ruck to get rid of him.”

Skipper Doug Horrocks was proud that the thin blue line had ultimately held under pressure.

“They capitalised on a few mistakes that first 60 minutes, just kept them in the game I thought.

“There was a chance to put them to the sword, it was a hot day and they’re big boys and it was looking like we were going to fire, but just a couple of missteps.

“They were a pretty disciplined outfit, and obviously Kahn Fotuali'i knows how to control the game, and they showed some good stuff.

“But it was good to see the composure at the end there when we got the ball, to kill those last couple of minutes, something we’ve had a couple of issues with in the past – South Canterbury at home last year – so that was pleasing as well.”

Whanganui played all the rugby in the opening quarter, but just couldn’t find a way through the muscled-up defensive line, until Mason used gas instead of brute strength to run the angle and dive over in the corner.

Just four minutes later, Symes carried back a clearing kick quickly, and the ball went out to lock Matt Ashworth attracting defenders, and Mason was off again with fellow speedsters in Symes on his inside and Mitai Hemi outside, opting to pass to the former who ran off to score, Boult adding the extras.

At 12-0 it looked like the visitors were faltering, but a high tackle penalty saw Solomona go on a big charge, followed by lock Michael-Jack Laursen-Miuagututia, and with Whanganui just holding up the pack under their posts, all defenders were pulled in and a quick transfer out to Paki gave him an easy run in for 12-7 with four minutes until halftime.

But showing that character, Whanganui used those minutes well, attacking from a lineout to work to the tryline, and then fire the quick ruck ball to Hemi to score in the corner.

The ten-point buffer didn’t last long as Whanganui lost the restart, and when Horowhenua-Kapiti got a tap penalty, Fotuali'i showed his sleight of hand by looking at his milling forwards but instead firing his pass towards the posts and a motoring Pape, who ran straight through to score with an easy conversion for first-five Rory Woollett.

Getting recomposed, Whanganui forced a turnover in the attacking half to end up with a scrum after a fumble from a kick charge down, and Vakarorogo seized his chance in signature style - driving sideways through his attempted tackler and then twisting to take off at the gallop and score, with Boult converting to re-establish the breather.

It didn’t last long as just four minutes later, a penalty saw Horowhenua-Kapiti drive from the lineout, and although Whanganui stopped them to force the spread, Solomona was not going to let tacklers keep him from forcing his way through under the posts for 24-21.

Boult’s clutch long range three-pointer took any last-minute penalty or drop-goal off the table for Horowhenua-Kapiti, but they were only just stopped from scoring again before the hosts shut them down for good.

Whanganui 27 (T Mason, H Symes, M Hemi, A Vakarorogo tries; A Boult pen, 2 con) bt Horowhenua-Kapiti 21 (C Paki, S Pape, E Solomona tries; R Woollett 3 con). HT: 17-7.

By Jared Smith