Kings under the mountain
Heartland Round 2 | Thames Valley v North Otago
Saturday 24 August | Boyd Park, Te Aroha
From the man in the stand, Tighthead Ted

BOOOM, there you go, two from two.  The Swampies did it the hard way, two early tries, a late try, and seven zillion tackles in between as they gifted North Otago possession through the middle seventy minutes of the match!  But at the end of the day, the boys are Kings of the Mountain at Te Aroha for 2024.

With the rain pelting down, after holding off for the two curtain raisers, Valley hit the ground running, while North Otago were sleeping.  With Jake O’Connor finding more holes in the edge defense than in a pair of my ten year old daks, the halfback caused mayhem, and two tries in the first three minutes looked like the end of the road for the Old Golds before the journey had even started.

The first five pointer, to first five Toddy Doolan, came off a Oneone Faafou rumble down the touchline before Fletch Morgan linked to put Doolan away under the sticks.  Duly converted by Morgan.  Morgan then dotted down for the second try to Valley almost before the scoreboard had clicked over to seven zip.  A break from O’Connor and a perfectly timed pass saw just a fullback to beat, which Morgan did with ease to slide over in the corner.  Conversion knocked over from the sideline, fourteen zip, and the subs hadn’t even made it to their benches yet.

The rain eased with just a couple of more showers through the game, but the Valley couldn’t crack North Otago open again, hard running number eight Laulea Mau, in his blazer game, was held up over the line, and a few other promising attacks led by Faafou, winger Alex Thrupp on debut, and Leroy Van Dam at centre were not capitalised on.  On the stroke of halftime, Morgan slotted a penalty to take the teams into the orange break up seventeen nil.  North Otago had woken up through the middle of that first spell, and in a foreshadowing of the second stanza, Valley had to put in some serious work on the ‘D’ line, holding the visitors out for phase after phase.

The second half started with the visitors holding onto the pill like Scrooge McDuck hoarding pennies in his money vault.  Valley was forced to defend for long periods of play, and there’ll be some sore bodies today from the amount of tackles the lads made.  Young front ranker Will Martin, Kenan Gillson in his first start for the Valley, and veteran lock Connor McVerry, in fact the whole forward pack rose to the occasion, and tackle after tackle was completed.  The ‘YOU SHALL NOT PASS’ award though would again have to go to Faafou, who bends people when he makes tackles, Mau not far behind.

North Otago finally got some reward for their eight million phases on attack, and two tries, one gifted when fullback Cam Gerlich though he was playing sevens, slapping the ball back into play for the North Otago winger to scamper 80 metres for the five pointer, and put the score to 15-17 with twenty to go.  Finally getting some possession late in the game, Valley nabbed a second try to Morgan after a nice move down the left saw Charlie Marsh on the wing put through a grubber that no defender covered before Morgan flopped down for the try – again converted from wide out.

The match drew to a close with the Valley up by nine and pushing for the win, a late penalty was turned down for a line out five metres out.  The Valley eight won the lineout, and drove over the line for hooker Josh Tye to not score the try.  Ole Tighthead is not one to criticise the whistle blowers, as there are plenty out there to do that anyway, but apparently the drive stopped, and the ‘use it’ call whispered out.  It must have been half a nano second stoppage, as the boys looked like they could have driven this one as far as they wanted they were that in control.  Let’s just hope that the lost bonus point does not come back to bite as the semi final spots are sorted later in the season!

Standout players, hard to pick.   As every man-jack tackled themselves to a standstill.  The high balls this week were diffused with aplomb, Gerlich at fullback being untroubled, and joined by his two wingers Morgan and Thrupp in a reverse bomb squad.  O’Connor at halfback is in a rich vein of form, playing the best rugby I have seen from the young fella.

Up front, flankers Gilson and Cam Dromgool had a field day, chopping runners like Sonny Bolstad on steroids, and the second row pairing of Skipper Axtens and McVerry were, ahhh, ‘uncompromising’, to say the least.  Props Kutia and Martin also got through a ton of tackles.

Well, regardless of the hows and whys, a win’s a win, and we’ll take it.  Two from two, and still plenty to work on for the boffins with the whistles at training.  Onwards and upwards, away to Te Kuiti and King Country next week – the boys owe them one after the pre-season loss, and winning the Bill Osborne Taonga would certainly be payback!

Thames Valley 24 (T Doolan, F Morgan 2 tries;  Morgan 3 conversions, penalty) beat North Otago (2 tries, conversion, penalty).  HT 17-0

A quick mention of the two curtain raisers that I managed to see while telling lies and dodging showers with me old cobbers around the ground while waiting for the main event.  First, the Vixens and their thumping of their Wairarapa Bush counterparts 48-10.  Cracking game of footy, the improvement in just a season is off the charts for this team.  Big ups to coaches, and the lassess who are obviously putting in the hard yards and becoming very good rugby players.  A couple of name drops, Hinemoana Collier who I saw score a double from the left wing had a cracking first half, and the long range try from lock Hannah Riddle-Pelchin looked like a young Ian Jones in full flight from back in the day.  Great to see Steph Te Ohaere-Fox and Renee Woodman-Wickliffe giving back to the grassroots game – their class was obvious, and certainly lifted the players around them.

Also great to see a genuine second team fielded for the Valley this season in the Jackals – and a great name.  All these lads were doing the hard yards early in the season when Valley had their pre-season fitness camps, and are reaping the rewards.  The old saying, or is it new – “do the Mahi, get the Treats’ in full force as the players get to wear the gold and red.  Certainly a few roosters that would be more than capable of holding their own in Heartland rugby, and a side that the Swampies brain trust are keeping their eyes on.  They had a loss to the Waikato Divisional XV 25-29, but were well drilled and hopefully will take pride in the fact that they are on their first step up the ladder.  Ole Tighthead Ted used to love playing for the Valley Development XV last century, and all for a free polo shirt, and jacket of you could sneak it out before the managers noticed.

Heartland Results (home team named first)
Thames Valley 24 beat North Otago 15
Mid Canterbury 49 beat West Coast 21
Buller 27 lost to King Country 54
Horowhenua Kapiti 27 lost to East Coast 30 (Golden Point)
Poverty Bay 36 lost to Whanganui 47
South Canterbury 69 beat Wairarapa Bush 32

Current Standings

Disclaimer:  The opinions of the author, Mr Tighthead Ted esq. belong to THT (esq), and THT alone.  In no way are they indicative or expressing the views or thoughts of the Thames Valley Rugby Union and / or the employees of the TVRU.  Especially any opinions that may cast aspersions on referees or their touchies, as those buggers are on a hiding to nothing anyway, and as my coach used to say, they make less mistakes than the players anyway, so shut up and get back ten!!.   So again, if you get upset by the ramblings of an old tight forward who has learned how to type, call 0800 436 684 4832 3825 for Ted’s counselling service.