Mid Canterbury Hammers are off to the North Island this weekend for the Meads Cup final, after a spectacular win at Fraser Park on Saturday.
South Canterbury’s dreams of a fourth cup victory in a row were shattered, upset at home 17-16 by the gutsy Mid Canterbury outfit in the semifinal clash.
It was South Canterbury’s first Heartland Championship defeat in five years – a record unlikely to ever be surpassed. South Canterbury’s run is the longest streak in New Zealand provincial rugby history; Hawkes Bay won 36 on the trot from 2001-2004.
Upsets were however the order of the day in the Heartland Championship. Thames Valley ambushed Whanganui 38-15 at Cooks Garden, which means the third seeded Swamp Foxes will host the fourth seed in the Meads Cup.
In the Lochore Cup, King Country will host the final in Te Kuiti after beating East Coast 34-31. They will face West Coast, who upset Horowhenua Kapiti, in an amazing game that finished with a 52-51 scoreline.
On Saturday, Mid Canterbury second five Tom Reekie brought it home for the ‘Green & Gold’, with an 84th minute penalty to steal a win and put his side into their first Meads Cup final in a decade.
Mid Canterbury coach Matt Winter, in his first year in charge, said he was over the moon with the result.
“We thought we had the team to do it, as long we stayed with them,” Winter said.
Winter said impact of the bench in the final quarter made the difference.
South Canterbury will be rueing missed opportunities, especially in the first half to put their neighbours away.
Mid Canterbury hung in, with some outstanding defence, and overturned a 16-6 deficit with 10 minutes left to play in a frenetic finish to the game.
South Canterbury started brightly in the semi-final Meads Cup clash, with a try to blindside Tangi Savelio inside two minutes. And with six minutes gone, Mid Canterbury lost fullback Thomas Middleton to an injury.
Both sides missed penalty attempts and then Reekie landed one midway through the half to make it 5-3.
South Canterbury second five Paula Fifita, who was celebrating his 50th game along with lock Anthony Amato, made a couple of strong runs only to be cut down just short of line and lose the ball. The same fate awaited hard-charging No.8 Siu Kakala who lost the ball close to the line.
Show of support . . . Mid Canterbury fans (from left) Dani McArthur, Molly Stapleton, Rebecca Mountford and Poppy Kilworth enjoy the sunshine and the game at Fraser Park.
A second penalty to Reekie had Mid Canterbury up 6-5, against the run of play but South Canterbury scored on the stroke of half time with Amato going over in the corner after several drives at the line to led 10-6 at the break.
Early in the second half South Canterbury were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty try when Kakala was taken in a high tackle close to the line, with no others defenders in sight. The referee awarded a penalty but did not reach for a yellow card which was a surprise.
A penalty each to first five Willie Wright and Faalele Iosua had South Canterbury up 16-6 and the game looked in the bag with 10 minutes to play.
Reekie closed the gap to seven points with nine minutes left to play and everyone was wondering if extra time was on the cards, if Mid Canterbury did the unthinkable and scored a converted try to tie the game.
Mid Canterbury, however, dug deep and kept the ball alive to score a great try to big left winger Raitibe Vasurakata, who scored out wide, after handling the ball four times in the build-up. The conversion was wide and it looked as if South Canterbury were out of gaol.
Twice in the final few minutes a desperate Wright pushed Mid Canterbury back inside their own 22, with tactical kicks, but Mid Canterbury held on to the ball and came back.
South Canterbury looked to have saved the game when they stripped the ball from a Mid Canterbury in front of their posts.
The referee however awarded a penalty, as the stripped ball then struck a South Canterbury player in an offside position.
Reekie calmly slotted the points from in front to end the game and start Mid Canterbury joyful celebrations.
There were heroes all over the park for Mid Canterbury from front rower Adam Williamson, No.8 Michael Hennings, halfback Kieran McClea to Vasurakata out wide.
For South Canterbury Kakala stood out with some strong running as did Fifita, while hooker Conor Anderson also impressed but overall the side succumbed in a surprising meek manner, especially since they won the away fixture 41-19 in the round robin clash.
Dejected captain Wright summed up the performance.
“It was pretty disappointing we couldn’t quite ice it after being up 16-6 with 10 to go.
“We needed to play the full 80 minutes in semi-final footy.”
Wright said he was proud of what the team had achieved in winning 39 in a row but that reflection would be for another day.
Mid Canterbury faces off Thames Valley at Te Aroha on Saturday for the final.
