North Otago v East Coast Meads Cup Semi-Final Review

A well organised and patient East Coast side earnt a place in the Meads Cup final against Wanganui next Saturday with a 23-17 win over hitherto unbeaten North Otago in Oamaru on Saturday. North Otago went into the game with the knowledge that it had beaten East Coast earlier in the competition, 52-17 but found the task of repeating the performance a bridge too far. 

East Coast was able to dictate and control the pace of the game and this served to frustrate North Otago which when it did gain possession was seldom able to  build up three plus phases before a pushed pass or mishandling turned the ball back over to East Coast. 

North Otago co coach Barry Matthews was philosophical after the game.

“East Coast thoroughly deserved its win. They had the self-belief and they played to their strengths and we probably never played to ours.”

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North Otago vs East Coast – 2011 Heartland Meads Cup Semi-Final

North Otago will meet East Coast in its Meads Cup semi-final at Whitestone Contracting Stadium tomorrow afternoon.  North Otago defeated East Coast in  the qualifying round, 52-17 but not too much can be read into that game as East Coast lost key midfield back Rua Tipoki who was red carded midway through the first half after North Otago had  picked up its bonus point for four tries in the first quarter.

East Coast lost only one other game, and that while Tipoki was absent when it went down to Buller in Westport, 8-34.  But since then East Coast has won its last four games, Wairarapa-Bush (33-13), Thames Valley (31-26), Poverty Bay (30-29) and lasat weekend  Horowhenua-Kapiti (35-16).

North Otago has fashioned a proud record in Heartland rugby since the semi-finals and finals were introduced in 1997. Over the past 14 years whether it was in the old third division or the second division North Otago has failed to make the semi-finals in only two seasons,1998 and 1999.

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Heritage Game Feature – Maheno vs Awakino

North Otago rugby will head back76 years when its traditional Meridian Heritage rugby game is played at Takaro Park in the centre of Oamaru between Maheno and  the Waitaki Valley or Awakino club under the rugby rules of 1935.

Today’s game which will kick off at 5.15p.m. will be refereed by Bruce Rowland and is a lead up to the Waitaki Golden Oldies Rugby Festival being held in Oamaru from October 1-3.The after match function will be held across the road at the Oamaru club with official speeches and an auction at 7.15p.m.

The game harks back to the time when every village seemingly produced a rugby team. Gradually as transportation improved a form of centralisation occurred at a variety of stages.

In North Otago one of the biggest work forces was centred on Kurow and what was to be Lake Waitaki as the construction of the first dam on the river was built with labour in the depression. This large labour force naturally included rugby as one of its few pastimes.  The Awakino rugby club was established to meet the recreational needs of the over 1000 workers who built the Waitaki dam between 1928 and 1935.It was said that if you could play “a classy game of rugby you would get a job at the Waitaki Hydro scheme. In 1931 the club had nine players in the North Otago side and in all 12 players from the club represented North Otago between 1928 and 1933.  The Awakino team was usually too strong for other teams in the Waitaki sub union and thus was hardly surprising with players of the calibre of All Black Dib Vorrath and players of the calibre of Langbein, Lilburne, the Veitches, Barton and Butler.

1935 was a vintage year for the Maheno club. It won the Citizens Shield, the Clark Shield, the Mollison Cup and the Kelcher Cup.  The club was established in 1896 with its first game against Kakanui that same year with Kakanui claiming the win but the Maheno club was not allowed to enter a team in the North Otago competition until 1922.

By 1926 the club had developed to the stage that it won the Citizens shield and the Clark shield

Further down the Valley there were teams at Duntroon, Tokarahi, Ngapara, Windsor, Enfield, Weston and Maheno.  The Duntroon, Tokarahi, Ngapara and Duntroon clubs eventually combined in the midfifties to form the Union club which it then in the early 1990s amalgamated with Weston Pirates to form the Valley club.

Another feature of the century was the presence of a multiplicity of sub unions.  North Otago was a sub Union of Otago until  the current North Otago union was formed in 1927.But within North Otago there were sub unions. The Waitaki Sub Union eventually joined with the North Otago union in the mid-sixties while across the river there was a Waimate sub union and in the south the Eastern Districts sub union organised rugby in the Palmerston region.

Whilst the structure was different so were the rules of the game.  Today’s scrum was developed in the late 1930’3 from the two/three/two scrum which had a wing forward as its eighth member.

The All Blacks two/three/two scrum caused controversy the moment it was first seen in the Northern Hemisphere in 1905.Matters finally came to a head in 1930 with the Lions tour of New Zealand which, according to the tour agreement, was to be played under the International Board

Laws

The complaints by the Lions manager James Baxter against New Zealand’s habit of forming a two man front row and a wing forward deployed outside the confines of the scrum led ultimately to a change in the laws and the outlawing of this practice.

Baxter did this from a position of power as he was England’s representative on the International Board, a body which New Zealand had not been allowed to become a member.  Within a year new regulations were passed that required teams to field three men in the front row of a scrum and thus the old scrum and the wing forward was consigned to history.

In fact the last test match played using the old form of the scrum was played at Eden Park on 12 September, 1931 and the All Black scrum that day was A J Cottrell and E M Jessep (front row),G B Purdue, E R G Steere, D S Max(second row), T C Metcalfe, W Batty(back row) and F Solomon(wing forward).

That day New Zealand beat the Australians 20-13 after Australia had led 13-11 at halftime.

It is interesting to note that before 1930 there was no mention of the number of players in the front row. In 1931 there was indeed a change but it merely specified that the front row should be “no more than three”. In 1933 there was a suggestion that the RFU require precisely three players in the front row but the International Board decided not to make changes at that time. In fact it was not until 1950 that the law demanded a three man front row.

The rules for today’s game are:

1.         Three points for a try.

2.         Two points for a conversion.

3.         Three points for a penalty goal.

4.         Three points for a penalty.

5.         The ball could be kicked out on the full from any part of the paddock, but not in this game.

6.         A mark could be taken from anywhere in the field.

7.         The ball could not be played by hand in the ruck/maul.

8.         Wingers throw the ball into the lineouts.

9.         Numbering was normally from fullback, number 1, but it was up to each team how the team was to be  numbered.

NOrth Otago vs Mid Canterbury Preview

North Otago will meet Mid Canterbury at Whitestone Contracting stadium in the final qualifying round of Heartland rugby. It is a crucial game for both sides.  North Otago, win, lose or draw is assured of a home semi-final but it must win and score at least four tries in the process if it is to retain the top spot ahead of Wanganui for the playoffs.

Mid Canterbury is on a roll looking for its fifth win on end after losing two of its first three games but a surprise win over Wanganui saw the confidence return and since then it has beaten King Country, South Canterbury and Buller and it comes south with the knowledge that a win will take home the Hanan shield and give it a place in the Meads Cup.

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