Wanganui claim Meads Cup, Poverty Bay take Lochore Cup

Whanganui overcame an ill-disciplined East Coast side to claim the Meads Cup for Heartland rugby in the final 30-10 at Cooks Gardens in Whanganui on Saturday.

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Whanganui only needed to keep their heads in the face of some mis-directed East Coast aggression to claim the victory. First five-eighths Mark Davis landed six penalty goals to punish East Coast.

East Coast proved a frustrating competitor, heavily reliant on the guidance of centre Rua Tipoki, and making use of the control of No.8 Mutu Ngarimu. But Tipoki was one of three East Coast players who spent time in the sin-bin during the game – a wasteful weakness in a game of such crucial importance.

They claimed the lead, a little against the run of play when Davis attempted to find his wing with a long pass. But speedy East Coaster Tom Teaeki was in position to take the ball and speed 75m to score the first try of the game in the 30th minute.

East Coast struggled for discipline losing lock Willie Waitoa to the sin-bin in the first half, and then after a series of complaints to referee Ben Skeen, it was Tipoki who fell victim to tempting fate when he was sin-binned for a blow to halfback Denning Tyrell's face in the 61st minute and Davis extended the lead to 15-10 from the resulting penalty.

Wing Simon Scown went close to scoring in the 66th minute but was tackled just short of the line and was forced to leave the field after suffering a blow to his head as he went down in the tackle.

Wanganui finished the game strongly and made much of the play with some fine hand-to-hand running and support play which tested the Coast defence. Lock Daniel Fitzgerald exploded downfield in another powerful run to intensify the pressure.

With 11 minutes remaining hooker Ngarimu Simpkins was sin-binned for punching leaving East Coast with 13 playing 15 and attempting to stem the tide, a feat which proved beyond them as a lineout turnover saw the ball moved to the flank where replacement wing Simon Dibben raced over to put the game beyond doubt.

And on fulltime it was captain Steelie Koro who put the icing on the cake with a try.

Scorers: Wanganui 30 (Simon Dibben and Steelie Koro try; Mark Davis con, 6 pen) East Coast 10 (Tom Teaeki try; Clayton Kiwara con, pen). HT: 9-7

Poverty Bay continued their excellent form in Lochore Cup finals when beating South Canterbury 49-22 in Timaru.

Scorers were:

South Canterbury 22 (Eric Smith, Junior Sala, Sam Baird tries; Scott Norton 2 con, pen) Poverty Bay 49 (Sam Stewart, Daniel Harris, Sione Ngatu, Kelvin Smith, Ratu Vosake, Murray Hewson tries; Scott Leighton 5 con, 3 pen). HT: 10-16