Return of Rangitīkei teams boosts top grade competition
There is a very fresh look to the start of the 2024 Tasman Tanning Premier competition this Saturday as the return of Rangitīkei sides adds new-look matchups to the six-team, 10-round competition.
Waverley Harvesting Border will be suiting up for the latest defence of their title — having won the Rosebowl Trophy for a record four consecutive seasons — but this year promises to be a different landscape.
Under second-year coach Todd Cowan, Border will now be without the services of their grand final hero Craig Clare, who since 2019 has guided them to Cooks Gardens finale every year, and finished in style with a sideline conversion to snatch 2023’s match from their great rivals Byford’s Readimix Taihape, 24-23.
Still, from their 2023 NZ Heartland XV halfback Lindsay Horrocks on down through the ranks, Border can still call upon plenty of talent.
One new challenger this year will be the club with whom Border previously shared the record of three consecutive Premier title wins — Rātana returning to the top grade for the first time since 2019 in their 100th season.
Having self relegated down to Senior in the 2020 ‘Covid’ season to rebuild their playing group, Rātana made the playoffs in four straight seasons and won one title, and as expected for their centenary there has been an influx of young men coming home to the Pa.
Among them is standout Steelform Whanganui flanker Jamie Hughes, who will also add his expertise to coach Cornell Mason’s support staff.
But Rātana did not come up alone from the Rangitīkei, as for the first time since 2014, the Marton Rugby & Sports Club steps back into Premier.
Having also secured an influx of players, notably including 2023 NZ Heartland XV player and incumbent Steelform Whanganui skipper Dane Whale, Marton like Rātana are starting their season with two squads — the Premier side coach by the experienced Shane Ratima, who has worked with the Whanganui Heartland squad, Development XV and the NZ Heartland Under 19s.
It means all eyes will be on the Pa this Saturday for no less than three adult Rātana vs Marton matches — headlined by the first Rangitīkei derby game at Premier level in a decade.
The match is likely to be a bruising classic, after the clubs played their wider squads against each other in a preseason fixture at Marton Park in March, which went to a 19-all stalemate.
These two clubs stepping up allows for a six-team competition for the first
time since 2021 and offsets the return of the Ruapehu club to just being a Senior competition club after an unsuccessful return to Premier in 2023, while plans for the Pirates club to also return in 2024 went unfulfilled following their late withdrawal in preseason.
The other three teams are Premier regulars and as well as facing off with the Rangitīkei clubs, they will be eager to try and knock Border off their throne.
Having made four of the previous five finals, all against Border, Taihape saddles up again under sophomore season coach Sefo Bourke.
While the departure of Whale will hurt, Taihape usually fronts with a wellbalanced side, especially in the forwards, from which lock Peter-Travis Hay-Horton was named in the NZ Heartland XV last year.
They will host Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist at Memorial Park, with a new era for the 2023 semifinalists.
After guiding the Marist Celtic side to back-to-back Senior championships, the club’s first in well over a decade in that grade, Steelie Koro and Duane
Brown take over the top side and are likely to have brought a number of their standout youngsters up with them.
The side will miss standout Whanganui prop Keightley Watson, who has travelled the well-beaten path into the Taranaki wider training squad for 2024, alongside fellow expat Vereniki Tikoisolomone.
Marist secured their first win over Taihape since 2017 during last year’s competition — 22-12 at Spriggens Park during the first round — while Taihape hung on 20-17 in the side’s next meeting at Memorial Park in June.
And the other 2023 semifinalist Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau will get first crack at Border when they host them at the Country Club.
Buoyed by the return home of former Whanganui utility back and goalkicker Ethan Robinson, who ventured to Australia during last year’s Heartland season — Kaierau will be trying to get back to the grand final for the first time since 2021 — disappointed to have lost another home semifinal to Taihape last year.
A strong town squad for depth, with two 2023 NZ Heartland representatives in Doug Horrocks and Peceli Malanicagi, the side will be guided by last year’s assistant coach in Danny Tamehana, who was part of the arrival of talent from the now defunct Ngamatapouri RFC in 2023.