Valley fumble home semi chance

Valley fumble home semi chance
From Tighthead Ted at Whiti City

One job boys, one job. A win against Horowhenua Kapiti, and you’ve got a chance of hosting a home semi final – if other results go your way. Well, our old mates from Colin Meads country did their bit, King Country belting Whanganui 34-17 at the river city. But it was not to be as from the first kickoff, when Horowhenua claimed their own kick and stormed onto attack, Valley was always chasing the game.

Despite that slow start, a plethora of errors throughout, and giving Horowhenua a 14-38 lead with 20 to go, the Swampies never gave in, and with the bomb squad hitting the field and changing the game, they almost pulled it off – needing a converted try in the hectic final minutes to steal a win. It looked on too, with veteran Brett Ranga and Laulea Mau making inroads through the tiring Horowhenua defence, but too many wrong options at the right times saw the game go begging.

Wrong options and basic errors were endemic throughout the match for the Valley. They were slow out of the blocks, and got slower before the frantic final quarter of the match. After conceding the kickoff, and an early try to the visitors, it looked like the Valley were getting back on track, with two tries to Alex Thrupp. The first from a Horowhenua error, and the second when he weaved and stepped and slipped his way through half the Horowhenua team to dot down by the posts. Both tries turned into seven pointers by the reliable boot of Fletcher Morgan, and it looked like normal transmission had been resumed, a lead of 14-7.

But the errors kept coming, lack of ball security, usually reliable tacklers missing their man, wrong options, intercept passes, you name it the Valley boys tried to do it. The hard earned lead vanished in a puff of intercepts and dropsies, and the lead became a seven point deficit at the half. A ten point wind at their backs and seven points in arrears. Sounds like ole Tighthead Ted’s bank balance.

The second half started with promise, Valley taking the kick and centre Rodney Tongotea soaring high to claim it, and the Valley storming onto attack. However, the whoopsies hit again, and Horowhenua raced away 80 metres to take the score to 14-28. Not deterred, Valley swung back onto attack again, and were looking strong, before a wayward pass was intercepted and the hole Valley were digging was starting to look pretty deep, 14-35. Then a long range penalty saw the score stretch out to 14-38, game over, or it should have been.

The arrival of the bench, and a bit of niggle through the middle stages of the half saw the Valley bar up and start to claw their way back into the match. First a Fletcher Morgan break and some great support line running from Alex Thrupp saw the peroxided winger score his third try, before a few minutes later Josh Tye crashed over after a series of rucks on the line as the forwards earned their aftermatch mince and cheese pies. At 28-38 with 18 minutes on the clock, the impossible was starting to look possible.

The errors kept creeping in though, the wrong options, the old, “don’t kick it, pass it” call was heard through the ground. When the Swampies held onto the ball, they were looking dangerous, and it’s always much harder to score tries when you’re kicking the ball back to the opposition, even old Tighthead Ted knows that. Horowhenua landed another mighty penalty to sneak out to a 13 point lead as the match see-sawed. The continuing niggle finally led to punches thrown, and a red card was awarded to the winner – the Horowhenua reserve hooker.

With a man down, Horowhenua defended gamely, and the Swampies managed to bomb a try with ten to go, before Hendrix Beazley dotted down in the corner, five minutes left on the clock. Morgan landed a pearler of a conversion from wide out, into the wind, that gave the Swampies a final chance to sneak a win off the visitors. A frantic final period of play saw a few more wrong options, a missed drop goal attempt from Horowhenua (their tens only miss of the day), and a full time whistle with the home side still six points short, 35-41.

Hard to pick out too many shining lights in this game, but one worth mentioning would certainly have to be the ball deliverer for the start of the second spell, Harper Sanford. A high-five for the kicker, followed by a front double biceps, a most muscular, and a bunch of cartwheels as he exited the field. Gold on all levels!

Of the players, jeez, there were a lot of errors, hard to single out any standouts, but ole THT isn’t afraid of a challenge. Fletch Morgan got through a ton of work with some nice breaks, and landed the conversions to keep the Valley within sniffing distance of the win. Looking at home now in the 12 jumper, just needs a haircut. Winger Alex Thrupp was all action, as dangerous as a monkey with a razor blade with ball in hand, and rewarded with three tries. Some vital tackles too. Doesn’t need a haircut.

The bomb squad that hit the field did what they were meant to in best Bokke fashion. Prop Te Huia Kutia, who arrived at the 28th minute had a stormer of a match, scrummed to his usual high standard, and had some rampaging ball carries, was a treat to see for this old front ranker. Josh Tye at hooker came on, and with his first touch of the ball snaffled a textbook turnover, and snuck over under a pile of bodies for five points. Brett Ranga was immense on his arrival, hard nosed carries, mixed with some deft soft handed offloads – some of the double digit boys could learn from those silky skills! Likewise Laulea Mau, came onto the field and ran with intent, a couple of his runs just crashing on and on bouncing like a pinball, but always going forward. Tayne Tupaea also ran hard and didn’t make errors, which had been the theme of the day until then. These blokes added the impetus that saw victory almost snatched from the jaws of defeat. Haircut watch: Only Tupaea needs a trim.

So a bit of a bugger of a game – but as one of the wise old heads of the backroom said, “at the start of the day we were heading to Whanganui for the semi final, and at the end of the day we still are”. A loss after those three big wins might not be a bad thing, any complacency will have to be washed out of the system as the Valley heads into the sudden death fixture in Whanganui . They’ll certainly want to turn the tables on last year’s humping, and if they turn up on the day with the right mindset, it’s all on like Donkey Kong.

Thames Valley 35 (A Thrupp 3, J Tye, H Beazley tries; F Morgan 5 conversions), lost to Horowhenua Kapiti (5 tries, 5 conversions, 2 penalties).

OTHER HEARTLAND RESULTS:
East Coast 45 beat Wairarapa Bush 32
Mid Canterbury 47 beat Poverty Bay 24
North Otago 55 beat Buller 14
West Coast 38 lost to South Canterbury 43
Whanganui 17 lost to King Country 34

SEMI FINALS:
Meads Cup
Whanganui v Thames Valley
South Canterbury v Mid Canterbury

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Lochore Cup
King Country v East Coast
Horowhenua Kapiti v West Coast

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FINAL STANDINGS

Pos.		P	W	D	L	PF	PA	TF	TA	TB	LB	+/-	BP	PTS
1	Sth Canterbury	8	8	0	0	327	214	49	32	8	0	113	8	40
2	Whanganui	8	6	0	2	383	199	58	29	6	1	184	7	31
3	Thames Valley	8	6	0	2	348	190	48	22	5	2	158	7	31
4	.Mid.Canterbury.	8	6	0	2	297	215	42	32	6	0	82	6	30
5	King Country	8	5	0	3	276	179	37	24	6	2	97	8	28
6	Horo- Kapiti	8	4	0	4	244	289	31	44	4	2	-45	6	22
7	East Coast	8	4	0	4	212	236	30	30	3	1	-24	4	20
8	West Coast	8	3	0	5	228	265	32	39	5	3	-37	8	20
9	North Otago	8	2	0	6	240	201	35	26	3	3	39	6	14
10	Wairarapa Bush	8	2	0	6	246	393	36	57	5	0	-147	5	13
11	Buller	8	2	0	6	142	402	19	59	1	1	-260	2	10
12	Poverty Bay	8	0	0	8	190	350	29	52	5	1	-160	6	6
	Totals					3133	3133	446	446	57	16	0	73	265
	Average per game (48 Matches)					65.27	65.27	9.29	9.29	1.19	0.33		1.52	5.52

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