Sth Canty finish in top spot
South Canterbury coach Barry Matthews is delighted to have finished in top spot in the Heartland Championship after a 45-7 win over winless East Coast.
‘‘To finish at the top having used 41 players this season is a credit to the boys.
‘‘As I’ve always said you need to make the semis to have a shot at the Meads Cup. We’ve done that we just need to finish the job. ‘‘The season really starts now.’’ South Canterbury will host defending champions Wanganui on Saturday, after they came out on top with a superior points differential, after tying with West Coast and Mid Canterbury in fourth spot, in a topsy-turvy afternoon.
Wanganui beat North Otago 10-6 but their failure to secure a four-try bonus point meant they left their fate in other teams hands but survived.
The second semi sees Buller travel Horowhenua Kapiti in almost an instant replay after they lost to them 30-26 on Saturday in Westport.
It is the third time in three years Matthews and his assistant Grant McFarlane have guided South Canterbury to either first or second place after the round robin.
Their appointment has certainly turned around South Canterbury’s fortunes in the Heartland Championship.
Prior to them taking charge South Canterbury’s win rate was at 49 per cent, versus their current success rate of 85 per cent.
Previously the ‘green and blacks’ had also only been in the semis once before in nine attempts, in 2009 under Barry Fairbrother and Ken Wills.
The only thing missing is to lift the Meads Cup, having lost the final to Wanganui in 2015 and bowed out to Buller in semifinal last year, both at home.
In the Lochore Cup, Mid Canterbury finished top and will host Poverty Bay while North Otago will travel to Greymouth in the second semi-final.
At Ruatoria, South Canterbury ran in seven tries to one, after lead- ing 26-7 at halftime.
Big second five Loni Toumohuni was the star scoring a hat trick in his best outing for the province. Not everything however was perfect. Matthews said the performance was mixed.
‘‘The team played very well in places and poorly at other times, Horowhenua Kapiti 30 (Spencer Bishop, Scott Cameron, Willie Paia’aua tries; James So’oialo 3 con, 3 pen) Buller 26 (Ellis, Ravudra tries; James Lash 2 con, 4 pen) HT: 20-12 South Canterbury 45 (Loni Toumohuni 3, Vatiliai Tora 2, Leone Nawalu, Glenn Sturgess tries; Willie Wright 3 con, Jared Trevathan 2 con) East Coast 7 (Hone Haerewa try; Kris Palmer con) HT: 26-7 Mid Canterbury 43 (Angus Lindsay 2, Sam Finau, Willie McGoon, Tom Hanham-Carter, Jarred Percival tries; Percival 5 con, pen) King Country 38 (S Wanden, Jesse Williams, Bavan Brown, Ollie Kay, Keiron Rollinson, Reece Macdonald tries; Macdonald 4 con) HT: 24-31 Poverty Bay 35 (Everard Reid 2, Andrew Tauatevalu, Karl McPherson, Ethine Reeves tries; Reeves 5 con) Thames Valley 34 ( Aaron Carroll 2, Harry Lafituanai, Josh Law, Shaun Hill tries; Chris Doak 3 con, pen) HT: 21-24 West Coast 36 (Brad Tauwhare 2, Troy Tauwhare, Isei Lewaqai, Logan Heath tries; Nik Cumming 2 con; Tom Reekie 2 con, pen) Wairarapa Bush 26 (Chris Raymond, Epeli Rayaqayaqa, Nikora Ewe, Eddie Cranston tries; Tim Priest 2 con; James Goodger con) HT: 19-14 Wanganui 10 (Tremain Gilbert try; Nick Harding con, pen) North Otago 6 (Josh Buckham 2 pen).
after completed round-robin: South Canterbury 36, Horowhenua Kapiti 32, Buller 28, Wanganui 26, Mid Canterbury 26, West Coast 26, North Otago 25, Poverty Bay 20, Thames Valley 20, King Country 12, Wairarapa Bush 10, East Coast 0. it’s the same old, same old.
‘‘We will need to step up again for the semifinal and keep focused.’’ Matthews said it was however the first time they had used a team of local players, aside from ‘player of origin’ Phil Henderson.
‘‘On the positive side we did it without any loan players, which shows the depth we have.’’
Matthews said midfielder Toumohuni had a very good game.
‘‘He was staying up and being strong, which was exactly what we had been working on.’’
Centre Vatiliai Tora was also very good on attack, he said.
Tora added two more tries to take his season tally to seven in eight games.
‘‘Tili has plenty of skills and is dangerous with the ball.’’
In the forwards captain Kieran Coll played very well at No.8 as did Ben Hewitson at prop.
With a comfortable half time scoreline Matthews emptied his bench early in the second half and they kept the rhythm up.
Substitute half back Glen Sturgess scored a very good try while Kevin Moore looked handy at second five, having recovered from injury.
Blindside Leone Nawalu was the other player to get across the line.