ROUND 6 WINNERS
Three teams share Heartland lead
Mid Canterbury, Wairarapa Bush and West Coast sit atop the Pink Batts Heartland championship after six rounds of play.
Mid Canterbury travelled away to claim a 32-17 win over King Country in the latest round while West Coast proved too strong for Thames Valley at Paeroa, winning 33-18. Wairarapa Bush claimed a 13-3 win over Buller in the wet at Westport.
North Otago slipped into third place three points behind the trio with a 27-15 win over Wanganui as Chris Talanoa scored a hat-trick of tries to celebrate his birthday.
Coast, Cantabs looking good for Meads semis
Mid Canterbury and West Coast have all but secured their spot in the Meads Cup semifinals of the Heartland Championship with 15-point wins in the North Island today.
Up against seventh placed King Country in Taupo, Mid Canterbury turned it on in the final quarter of the match to win 32-17.
Further north in Paeroa, West Coast came back from a 13-12 halftime deficit to beat Thames Valley 33-18.
In Taupo, King Country halfback Zayn Tipping slotted two early penalties to have his side up 6-0 after seven minutes.
Mid Canterbury first five Murray Williams had his team in front with 10 minutes left in the half, spotting a gap in the defence and bolting through to score under the posts.
He added the conversion, before Tipping slotted two more penalties before the end of the half.
After the break Williams slotted his only penalty of the day, and then King Country prop Ted Tauroa extended his team’s lead with a try after 54 minutes.
At 17-10 with 20 minutes to play, Mid Canterbury kicked into gear, sparked by Willie McGoon’s double.
McGoon scored in the 60th and 75th minutes to give his team the lead, Williams slotting the second conversion.
From the restart Mid Canterbury spread it wide and were back over with Dwayne Burrows scoring the try.
Williams added the conversion again, and then put the cherry on top at the final hooter, slotting a drop goal to make it 32-17.
Coach Glenn Moore said it was a tight game, with the final scoreline not reflecting the tight nature of the match.
”We found the conditions pretty tough, with that strong wind. Apart from lineouts, which were pretty tough, I think our set piece was really good.
”At the end we started to spread it out a bit and got some success. It was a pretty good showing.”
King Country assistant Paul Mitchell said his team were blown away in the final 10 minutes, and thought they deserved at least a bonus point.
”We were ahead, so to end up with nothing at all is pretty tough.”
West Coast scored two tries in each half in beating Thames Valley in Paeroa, and go joint top of the Heartland Championship with Mid Canterbury and Wairarapa Bush on 23 points.
East Coast had a win over local rivals Poverty Bay in Ruatoria, scoring a late try through Lloyd Gabriel to win 22-18.
Thames Valley 18 (Lance Easton, Josh Law tries; Kane Adams con, 2 pen)
West Coast 33 (Josh Hill, Heroshi Tea, Kevin Moore, Kalave Aualiitia tries; Tim Priest 2 con, 3 pen). HT: 13-12
South Canterbury 30 (Kali Latu, Tenari Saumani, Liam Edwards, Carlos Tuilomo tries; Edwards 2 con, 2 pen)
Horowhenua Kapiti 13 (Lennon Carrington, Dave Thompson tries; Adrian Curry pen). HT: 18-3
King Country 17 (Ted Tuoro try; Zane Tipping 4 pen)
Mid Canterbury 32 (Murray Williams, Dwayne Burrowes, Willy McGoon (2) tries; Williams, 3 con, pen, dropped goal). HT: 12-7
North Otago 27 (Chris Talanoa 3, Ralph Darling tries; Ed Keohane 2 con, pen)
Wanganui 15 (Ace Malo, Pehira Huwyler tries; Zyon Hekenui con, pen). HT: 15-3
Wairarapa Bush 13 (Cameron Hayton try; Glenn Walters con, pen, dropped goal)
Buller 3 (Andrew Stevens pen). HT: 13-0
East Coast 22 (Te Rangi Fraser 2, Lloyd Gabriel tries; Chris Palmer 2 con, pen)
Poverty Bay 18 ( No scorers provided)
10% Discount at PlayersRugby , off the Normal RRP
by entering the code “rugbyredefined“
rugbyredefined.wordpress.com 