TRY TIME: Josh Balme reaches out to score the opening try against the East Coast. PHOTO BRAYDEN LINDSEY
THE King Country Rams might just have breathed some life into their 2022 Heartland Championship campaign. In Te Kūiti, the Rams proved too strong for the Ngāti Porou East Coast running out 32-21 victors in front of a strong crowd. While it wasn’t a vintage performance from King Country, it was enough to see coach Craig Jeffries and the management team smile, and it gave them back-to-back wins for the first time in this year’s championship. Following the win and a couple of blowouts, King Country sits sixth and remain in the hunt for a home semi-final in the Lochore Cup, while if they get maximum points from their next two points, a Meads Cup semi-final spot isn’t out of reach. “They were a good East Coast side. We worked out what we are good at, and this is our pattern and how we want to start and play for the entire contest. When we do that, we go pretty well,” Jefferies said. “The key is making sure we stick to that pattern and do what we are good at. We come unstuck when we vary from what we should be doing.” Hard strong ball carriers were a forefront of Saturday’s win with Bush United second five Carlos Bellass leading the way, while others like skipper Liam Rowlands, Dennis Andrews-Peters and Kaleb Foote were also superb at supplying good front foot ball. “We were bloody fortunate that they coughed up a few errors and didn’t capitalise on some of ours. They beat Mid Canty down there and everything stuck, today luckily it didn’t. “We were fortunate at times but that came down to some good defence.” A crucial element in the victory was King Country grabbed the much needed four try bonus point, something that was snapped up before halftime. “We haven’t got enough of them this season,” Jeffries said. “It’s hurting us on the table and now that result puts us in the top half of the table. “We took our foot off a bit in the third quarter, and they punished us, but the boys held strong.” Lock Josh Balme opened the scoring off a lineout drive on the back of a 50-22 from standout first five Quinn Collard, while their second was off another 50-22 with Bellass crashing through the East Coast defence. Some good build up and strong forward play saw Karney Dunster snare the third before Quinn Collard finished off a Bellass line break to have their fourth. Up 22-0 at halftime it looked one way traffic, but East Coast came out firing in the second stanza. They scored through first five Carlos Kemp and then he nailed three penalties to have them trailing by just six. Collard kicked a crucial penalty to push King Country out to a nine-point lead before the visitors replied with a try to flanker Richard Green. The killer blow came when Rowlands bust open the East Coast defence and fed teammate Charlie Henare to score. Bellass was outstanding as was first five Collard, while halfback Zayn Tipping provided good ball for the backs. Another difference in the win was King Country got plenty of impact from their bench with Henare, Reeve Satherly and Joe Perawiti, all superb. Jeffries said there were plenty of positives to take out of the game. “Dennis really stood up today. “We lost the big fella this week. Carl unfortunately has had retirement forced upon him in the week, so he’s now part of the coaching group as our scrum coach and the guys really stood up. “Dennis is only young but an off-season in the gym is exciting because of how much stronger we could get him.” He said it was good to see the experienced players take a lead in the dying stages. “The leaders stood up and we’re really proud of everyone. It was a good win, they’re a good side and we’re happy to get five points.” Centre Jonathon Malo was a new addition this week with fellow loan player Lukas Halls out injured. “Jonathon offered something a bit different with his strong left foot kicking; he’s played a lot of rugby and we felt we needed his experience.” Jeffries knows Buller will be a tough challenge down there. “They got flogged by Whanganui so they’ll be hurting and that will definitely make it tough for us. “They will be wanting to bounce back at home, and it makes them almost more dangerous. “We will be heading down there to capture a win and keep our play-off hopes alive. “We will have to earn the right to be flash. It will be hard.”
