Nonu rides into another coastal town
All Blacks great Ma’a Nonu is going coast to coast to play for Nga¯ti Porou East Coast again in the Heartland Championship.
The 103-test centre came off the bench last Saturday as East Coast won their first Heartland match since 2013, ending a losing streak of 54 matches by beating Buller 50-26 in Ruato¯ria.
Yesterday, East Coast coach Hosea Gear named himself and Nonu on the bench for today’s round-six match against West Coast in Greymouth. Nonu will make his second appearance in sky blue alongside Gear, his former All Blacks, Hurricanes and Wellington team-mate, who agreed to Nonu’s one condition when deciding to play: that he lines up for the Coast, too.
Greymouth’s John Sturgeon Park is the next venue where the 39-year-old will feature after his Heartland debut ended with him triumphantly riding a local’s horse around Whakarua Park.
The coast-to-coast travel is one of the longest away trips for the Ruato¯ ria-based team, who have to fly from Gisborne to Christchurch, then across to the West Coast via a chartered flight, finishing with a bus ride to Greymouth.
There’s also the return journey, but such arduous travel hasn’t deterred Nonu, who won the World Cup twice (2011 and 2015) in a storied career.
He was the star attraction last Saturday when East Coast ended their losing run in a memorable occasion for the country’s smallest union, whose iwi-based team was a winner again in the grassroots game’s flagship competition.
Alongside Nonu and Gear was another former international, Samoan Faifili Levave, with the trio coming on in the 60th minute when East Coast led winless Buller by 31 points.
Levave has been named on the bench to face West Coast, too, as East Coast aim for successive wins after eight years without one.
Both teams have 1-4 records after five rounds, with West Coast’s only win this year coming in round two when they beat winless King Country 34-17 in Taupo¯ .
East Coast haven’t beaten West Coast since 2012 – the season they last won the Meads Cup to become Heartland champions.
South Canterbury and Thames Valley are the competition’s only unbeaten teams.
■ Weston will host the Super Rugby pre-season match between the Highlanders and Crusaders on February 4.
The small North Otago town, located 5km inland from Oamaru, is the latest venue for the annual Farmlands Cup pre-season fixture.
Waimumu, Darfield, Southbridge, Wanaka, and most recently Temuka, have hosted Farmlands Cup games, which were introduced in 2016, enabling the teams to connect with rural communities in the South Island.
Next year’s match will be played at the Valley Rugby Club on a Friday afternoon, three weeks before the Super Rugby Pacific competition kicks off.