It has been a big weekend in NZ rugby, not only with the national team The All Blacks playing their final pool match at the Rugby World Cup, but weeks of round-robin games have finally resulted in all three of the leading New Zealand rugby competitions nearing their climactic semifinals/finals.
For the ITM Cup and the Heartland Championships, they enter the semifinal rounds as the top eight sides in each division look to reinforce strong campaigns with a victory in the knock-out rounds. In the case of the Women’s Provincial Championships, next weekends final match-up will be the culmination of that seven team competition and be a great reflection on those Women’s importance and equality in today’s game. They will have national exposure on Sky Sports as the curtainraiser for the semifinal held at McLean Park, in Napier and it has been a great year for all the ladies competing.
While the World Cup has taken the attention of the media, and quite rightly so, many fans will put on their regions colours and shout-out in support of their men and women. The World Cup event only occurs once every four years, and rightly so it has the major attention of all rugby fans.
During this hectic time, in all honesty I am finding it hard to concentrate on much else so “full credit” to the players in these competitions who would have plenty of distractions if they weren’t so committed to their sides cause. The discipline involved at these levels, are just as crucial as a World Cup. But it must be hard to keep their minds on the task.
Last Word On Sports commends the organisations, staffs and volunteers who have made this representative season another success. Besides the players, NZ Rugby and all of the logistics and operational staff have done a tremendous job in planning and implementing all matches played, and those semifinals/finals that we will see over the next two weeks. Great work team.
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2015 Women’s Provincial Championship Semifinal
Results: Wellington 29 Counties-Manukau Heat – Petone, Wellington | 23 Auckland Storm 38 Waikato 12 – St Johns, Auckland
Enjoyably, I attended the Women’s game held at Colin Maiden Park in Auckland with a friend from the media. A dominant Storm team continued their great run towards another final, mirroring the Men’s team success and even pulled out some classic three-women wall set plays to try to outsmart their neighbours. The team gelled best in the first half where a strong wind pitched them deep in Waikato territory and they made the most of that first half advantage. 26-0 before a short time, even the strongest calls by a loyal Waikato supporters group near the Varsity Clubhouse could not bring their team back into the semifinal.
Player of the Week – Makineti Hufanga. The solid Auckland winger has collected a good handful of tries so far this season, and on this day she was able to perform some great individual feats and finished off good backline movements. An industrious player, Hufanga found two early tries and then inserted herself into a well executed movement that was instigated by utility player Kiritapu Demant. The next weekend will determine the competition winner, but no other player has been the equal of try scoring machine Makineti Hufanga.
In Wellington, an improving side competed well as a unit to outlast the Counties-Manukau Heat. Played in beautiful conditions, the Pride were more enthusiastic and made the most of some fine end-of-season form and look to head into the final with a real burst of energy that will possibly surprise the Storm side, who are good at leading but could be challenged if they need to play ‘catch-up’.
WPC Final: Saturday 17th October 12:00pm, Napier: Wellington Pride V Auckland Storm
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ITM CUP – Week Nine
Results: Wednesday 7th October, Northland 36 Otago 54 | Thursday 8th October, Taranaki 17 Tasman 35 | Friday 9th October, Hawke’s Bay 30 Waikato 36 [RS] | Saturday 10th October, Canterbury 39 Southland 20 | Wellington 33 Manawatu 39 | Counties-Manukau 16 Auckland 31 | Sunday 11th October, North Harbour 36 Northland 12 | Otago 43 Bay of Plenty 30
All sides had everything to play for this final round, with only the Canterbury team guaranteed a home semifinal position, so each side had motivating factors to end their regular seasons in good shape. By Sunday night, we found out that the form teams in the Premiership had already determined their final placings (only Taranaki on the losing side) but in the Championship division, a wounded Hawke’s Bay team would suffer the most.
Game of the Week: Ranfurly Shield challengers normally occur just the once in a lifetime. If you are fortunate though, you get to hold this illustrious prize and then you must fight for it in a challenge and to attempt to retain that shield for as long as you and your team/region are able to. It is a natural cycle though, and with that said it was true on Friday night as a blistering second half from Waikato took it to the Hawke’s Bay team.
It was a cross-promotion game but that did not matter most, as Waikato had lost three games and most thought they would suffer from a more buoyant Bay team – but nobody told Brad Webber and his young side. With the holders slightly ahead at halftime, a blitz resulted in the fast Webber stealing metres on the tiring Bay defence, scooping up a nice inside chip kick and his hatrick put them out to a big gap that was all too hard to recover.
Wellington too have slipped a little, dropping a match to Manawatu and that would give them some questions over the strong finishing Otago side who convincingly won two games in a week and scored over 90 points. If I were Ardie Savea, I would put away the Breast Cancer charity shirt (commendable publicity for a cause close to his heart) and look to challenge Naulia Dawai for the ‘quickest flanker’ in ITM Cup title.
In other results, Canterbury put a load of points on Southland, but to their credit the Southern men gained a bonus point for scoring four tries, which was a terrific response. That will demand review in the Addington training ground for the Red and Blacks. But they top the table above Auckland, who countered a growing Counties team to end regular season with a confident win. Tana Umaga now heads to The Blues to attempt to rebuild that franchise, but leaves his province in good stead for the future.
Future fixtures: Premiership semifinals: Friday 16th October – Auckland v Tasman, Auckland | Satrday 17th October: Canterbury v Taranaki, Christchurch
Championship semifinal: Saturday 17th October: Hawke’s Bay v Bay of Plenty, Napier | Wellington v Otago, Westpac Stadium
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HEARTLAND CHAMPIONSHIP – Week Eight
Results: Poverty Bay 19 South Canterbury 62 | Thames Valley 29 West Coast 17 | Wairarapa Bush 35 Wanganui 57 | Horowhenua Kapiti 31 Buller 44 | North Otago 36 Mid Canterbury 39 | King Country 60 East Coast 14
The final round had something for everyone, in that feasibly several encounters would either promote a side into Meads Cup contention, or leave them (still satisfied) to compete for the Lochore Cup. Such a hard distinction to the great men these Cups are named after, but positions one to four are most coverted, and the top sides jossiled for a home semifinal.
In Paeroa, the north-south battle continued as West Coast visited. They entertained the locals, with the home team scoring four tries to win and in fact, finish ninth equal against their opposition. Poverty Bay were unable to defend a strong South Canterbury who raised 62 points in a perfect warm-up for next weekend, while Wanganui also put up a good early score to start with although they had to defend hard when a bullish Wairapa Bush agonizingly came close to a boilover defeat of the ‘Butcher Boys’.
A huge clash in Oamaru was worthy of a final, as the cross-fence neighbours did battle in a tussle that might see Mid Canterbury keep a distance on the chasing sides. That desperation was evident in the close nature of the game, and the hosts will feel all the worse for their second loss in a row and it ended any chance of them competing for the Meads Cup, as Mid ended up winning by just 36-39. In the North Island, King Country showed their credentials in dispatching East Coast and seemed ready for a big match to help them gain some respect for the union.
Attention turned to the Horowhenua-Kapiti match against Buller, possibly the most important match in Levin since Auckland rode into town and left with Carlos Spencer. Down at halftime, they looked to have good motivation to win but were held out by Buller, and to add to the North island teams misery were edged out of the Meads Cup semifinals as Wairarapa Bush earned that fourth qualifier spot with a points differential advantage.
The cruel reality of competition rugby is that there were six sides whom finished equal on points: W/Bush and H/Kapiti, King Country and Buller along with West Coast and Thames Valley who each claimed 16 points. Three victories is not nearly enough for any semifinal contention – yes, that is cruel but also reflecting the spread of the 14 sides and the relative competitiveness of Pink Batts Heartland Rugby.
Future fixtures: Meads Cup semifinals- Saturday 17th October, South Canterbury v Wairarapa Bush, Timaru | Mid Canterbury v Wanganui, Ashburton
Lochore Cup semifinals- Horowhenua-Kapiti v North Otago, Levin | Buller v King Country, Westport
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To keep up with all your NZ Rugby results, follow the RugbyNZ_ overview for the full results and finalist after this weeks epic matches. Last Word On Sports are proud to support ‘grassroots’ rugby and Men’s and Women’s rugby.
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