Damage done in the first 40
Wanganui prop Viki Tofa (former WHS student) got up close and personal with the Thames Valley forwards on Saturday.
PHOTO courtesy of Natalie Sixtus.
Steelform Wanganui did everything in bulk during their 60-14 hammering of Thames Valley to stay atop of the Mitre 10 Heartland leaderboard on Saturday.
First was excellent attacking rugby with ball in hand to run in seven first half tries for a whopping 52-8 lead at Cooks Gardens.
But next came mounting frustrations and infringement issues, with North Otago referee Nick Webster exercising an unwieldy influence on the game by sinbinning three Wanganui players - the last of which over-ruled standout winger Te Rangatira Waitokia's seeming 11th try of the season.
Webster also blew fulltime while the scoreboard claimed there was three minutes to go, moments after the home side finally got their eighth try.
While some of the head-scratching decisions had no real bearing on the outcome as Thames Valley were hopeless with ball in hand, making several unforced errors, it make for a unsatisfying second stanza for the home side who wanted to keep momentum going heading into this weekend's big clash with Buller in Westport.
Double tryscorer Jamie Hughes, who has outstanding in the opening quarter, and Waitokia were sinbinned for professional fouls right on halftime, leaving their team with 13 vs 15.
Yet straight after their departure, second-five Kameli Kuruyabaki (former WHS student) was still able to pounce on a looping pass and dash 90m for his team's second intercept try following Waitokia doing the same from 40m for his 10th touchdown for 2016.
Earlier, Webster had given a yellow card to Thames Valley reserve forward Josh Elgoran for taking out Wanganui lock Gavin Thornbury in the air on a kickoff, creating a few nervous moments before the winded Thornbury, the team's only specialist lock, regained his feet.
Tempers boiled over in the second half with prop Viki Tofa scrapping with the Thames Valley forwards, which saw Webster bin him following a long consultation with the touch judges after Waitokia had scored several phases later.
"I think [Webster] was just trying to even it out," said coach Jason Caskey.
"We put ourselves under pressure losing those two before halftime. Te's [sinbinning for offside] was hard, it was line speed."
But having comfortably come through the weekend unbeaten with a somewhat makeshift team due to injuries and unavailablity, the side will now be reinforced with locks Campbell Hart and Sam Madams, along with centre Craig Clare, all back for selection, while reserve prop Tietie Tuimauga and winger Samu Kubunavanua were unscathed in their comeback game.
"We'll be in a totally different boat next week," Caskey said.
Captain Peter Rowe, who made sure to mention that at 1.83m tall he still won two lineouts after switching to lock, was also looking forward to the squad depth evening back out.
"It should start to, it's been [normal] you start to perform with injured players. We take it as it comes."
When asked what Webster was telling him, Rowe felt the team just needed to work on their self control when momentum goes against them.
"It was just silly things, I guess frustration was creeping in. It's us - it's not the referee or the other team."
Waitokia made a big 60m run and was just dragged down by Thames Valley fullback Moss Doran, before Wanganui's forwards worked back towards the goal posts.
From a 5m scrum, No8 Malakai Volau tried another reverse flick pass and again it worked with Hughes latching on to dive across.
First five Dane Whale swept towards another gap outside and found support players lining up everywhere, with Volau taking the pass and sending Hughes dashing underneath the posts.
Thames Valley lock Kent McFarlane managed to snatch the kickoff off the Wanganui jumpers, and then working forward off a series of penalties, Thames his team attacked from the lineout with fellow lock Matt Rolston going close before hooker and captain Hayden Wisnewski burrowed over.
Thames Valley tried a clever switch play from a scrum 10m out from their line when halfback Beau-Deane Hamilton combined with winger Lance Easton to put flanker Connor McVerry on the charge, but it was all undone with a floating pass back in-field which Waitokia eagerly gobbled and cantered back to the posts.
Waitokia again bumped off a tackler and fed Ace Malo, who had been living in the backline and taking sweet flick passes from centre Blake Hohaia, and the veteran swung it back to his young winger before the ball was transferred to Kuruyabaki to punch through the last defender for 30-8.
Wanganui kept up the basketball-style passes, but the forwards settled it down as Rowe and prop Hamish Mellow drove from a lineout and flanker Tremaine Gilbert slipped the last line to place the ball on the black dot.
Whale chipped into open space and Thornbury reached out with his long paw to grasp it and run 35m for a popular try.
Despite losing both Hughes and Waitokia in the space of two phases on their line, Wanganui's defence held and Kuruyabaki swiped the pass to run right to the other end with only Malo anywhere near him.
Wanganui did not concede any points when reduced to 13, but Thames Valley used the penalty count to stay on attack in the second half, and after flanker Rupeni Vakacegu went close on a dive over the ruck, prop Haerengarangai Renata followed up and scored.
Wanganui thought Waitokia had a double after he darted through out wide following sustained buildup after halfback Lindsay Horrocks charged a kick down, but Webster went back to a previous altercation and sinbinned Tofa.
The home side finally got second half points when reserve hooker Jack Yarrall made a good burst, then the ball was thrown around for some wild passes before debuting reserve first-five Te Tua Kemp snatched it up and put winger Michael Nabuliwaqe under the posts.
Wanganui 60 (Jamie Hughes 2, Kameli Kuruyabaki 2, Te Rangatira Waitokia, Tremaine Gilbert, Gavin Thornbury, Michael Nabuliwaqe tries; Dane Whale 5 con; Te Tua Kemp con) bt Thames Valley 14 (Hayden Wisnewski, Haere Renata tries; Beau-Deane Hamilton con). HT: 52-8.
By Jared Smith
Wanganui Chronicle