HEARTLAND HEROICS

NGATI Porou East Coast will play Wanganui in the Meads Cup final at Wanganui on Saturday and Poverty Bay will travel to Timaru to meet South Canterbury in the Lochore Cup final after nail-biting semifinal wins at the weekend.
East Coast pulled off the upset of the season when they beat defending Meads Cup champions North Otago 23-17 in Oamaru, while the Bay edged Buller 32-30 in Westport.
The Coast’s result is even more remarkable, given that last season they did not win a game. Their 116-3 loss to North Otago in the opening game of 2010 was a Heartland Championship record.
They were also beaten 50-14 by North Otago in Oamaru in round three of the 2011 campaign.
“Those days (record losses) are gone,” proud player-coach Ngarimu Simpkins said. “This win was unbelievable but the job is only half-finished. We want to go all the way and win it but it won’t be easy.
“Wanganui are a different team from North Otago and now that we have beaten North Otago down there, we won’t catch Wanganui by surprise.
“Obviously we’re confident we can win but we need to get our feet back on the ground as quickly as possible — report for training this week ready to work hard and not act like we have won the championship.
“We’re all still buzzing after this win and the boys have every right to be happy, especially playing for 10 minutes in the second half with only 13 men after Willie Waitoa (lock) and I were sinbinned. But it’s back to earth come training night.”
Simpkins said he knew his side were up for it when they did their haka.
“Sometimes players can put too much energy into the haka and then pay for it on the paddock but the boys were awesome. They were fired up but in a controlled way. North Otago didn’t want to know in the opening 10 minutes.”
The Coast led 15-14 at halftime through tries to in-form fullback Sikeli Vorenasu and hooker Simpkins, along with a conversion and penalty to first five-eighth Clayton Kiwara, who has yet to taste defeat in a Sky Blue jersey since signing five weeks ago.
“He had another outstanding game, as did Sikeli, Rua (Tipoki, assistant coach, midfield general and skipper) and the rest of the players, including the reserves who came on,” Simpkins said.
“But Charlie Harrison (halfback) was our man of the match. He really stepped up and took control when we were down to 13 men. He became like an extra forward hitting rucks and taking control of the pill.”
“We slowed the game down, and used the pick-and-go to deny North Otago the ball until we were back to 15 men,” said East Coast Ngarimu Simpkins.
North Otago took a 17-15 lead with a penalty.
Kiwara regained the lead for the Coast with a penalty before Vorenasu sealed the win with a try.
“Rua, who was carving up their big midfielders — cutting inside, going outside them, cutting them down with huge tackles — made another crashing run before we got the ball to Mike King (centre), who popped a lovely pass to Sikeli.
“There were still 10 minutes to go but just looking at the boys I knew we weren’t going to lose.”
Simpkins and Tipoki made a big call before the game when they made a late change to the team and started with Hoani Te Moana at openside flanker in place of Robin Wyllie.
“Our initial game plan was to go with our big men to counter North Otago’s big forwards and backs but the more we thought about it, the more we became convinced Hoani’s speed was better suited to start.
“He had a great game and when Robin came on we had the physicality that we needed as North Otago threw everything at us.”
Whakarae Henare (utility back) Tanetoa Parata (flanker) and Pakanui Webb (lock) played well.
NGATI POROU EAST COAST 23 (Sikeli Vorenasu 2,Ngarimu Simpkins tries; Clayton Kiwara 2 con, 2 pens).
NORTH OTAGO 17 (Faaitu Tuamoheloa, Whira Meltzer tries; Ben Patston 2 cons, pen). HT: 15-14.