STANDOUT: Winger Zach Wickham-Darlington has been in impressive form for the King Country Rams this year. PHOTO SOFIA WOOD
THE King Country Rams are enjoying their underdog tag. Following a 44-30 away win over Buller the weekend before, King Country claimed a spot in the Meads Cup semi-finals with a 42-21 drubbing of North Otago in Taupō. It was an 80-minute showing from the Rams at Owen Delany Park as they showed their faithful supporters just how much they’ve improved across the eight weeks. It was the second successive week they’ve run in seven tries in an impressive showing. 19 TRIES IN THREE GAMES In the last three games, King Country have racked up 19 tries. They went into the game needing to deny the visitors any bonus points while picking up five themselves and that’s exactly what transpired. Coach Craig Jeffries was pleased with their performance in the weekend. “Two weeks ago most media had already written us off and said the Meads Cup finalists had been found so we cut out those articles and used them as motivation. “The guys went out there and got stuck in and produced a quality performance. It’s a bloody good feeling knowing we’re in the Meads Cup next week.” Jeffries said they wanted to put in a good performance at home for a number of reasons. “It was Liam’s blazer game and he’s a big part of our team, while we were also having a special presentation for Carl Carmichael after the match and then we wanted to thank the faithful fans, so to put on a performance like that capped off the day. It was really pleasing.” DISAPPOINTING NORTH OTAGO King Country gave the ball some width and used their hard ball running forwards perfectly to help them gain ascendancy against a disappointing North Otago side. The visitors put 90 points on Horowhenua Kapiti, who beat King Country, so they weren’t going to be easy, but the home side never allowed the Old Golds into the contest. “Our forwards were superb they really got in there and stuck it to them and that gave us great ball to work with.” Again their scrum and lineout were superb and Jeffries puts that down to the work of Carmichael and Aarin Dunster. “Those two guys have been involved in thousands of set pieces during their career and they’ve really got the guys clicking in these areas.” “We’ve got a fantastic bunch of guys here who have really gelled together as a side and it’s been something pretty special seeing them go about their business each week.” GELLED Finishing fourth means they’ll be on the road this weekend and then the following weekend should they make the final. “We enjoy going on the road together I think the Mid Canterbury game really helped and gelled us as a side. When we go away, we get an extra day together as a team compared to meeting up on the day when playing at home and I think that really helps us.” Jeffries knows they’ll have to fire on all cylinders this weekend against a South Canterbury side who have 22 games in a row. “We need to turn up and be in the contest for the entire 80 minutes; if we don’t South Canterbury will punish us. “We’re heading down there with confidence knowing that if we can execute our game plan and play for the entire 80 minutes then we can knock them over. “East Coast took it to them for large parts last week and were in it for 60 minutes, they just ran out of puff and South Canterbury scored five tries to blow the score line out. STEPPED UP “To win competitions like this you have to beat the best and for us that may as well start this weekend.” “If you had said they would have been in the Meads Cup semi-finals at the start of the season I may not have believed you. “I know we have some talent here, but it was just about unearthing that and seeing what they could do. Just how they’ve stepped up has really surprised us but also shown us there’s depth in the region.” Against North Otago Waitete’s Delane Bell made his King Country debut and Jeffries said he deserved it. “He’s been in the squad a few weeks now and an opportunity popped up to give him some game time.” Midfielder Joe Perawiti was King Country’s best in the victory, while Collard, Zayn Tipping, Kaleb Foote, Liam Rowlands and Cruise Dunster all impressed. “With Carlos doing so well Joe’s had to bide his time and probably hasn’t played as much as he would have liked but he’s a great team man and on Saturday he was our best player and showed what he’s capable of.”
