Heartland Championship – Week Five Preview

We look at Week Five of the 2015 Heartland Championship and Mid Canterbury are still the only un-beaten side in the 2015 Heartland Championship as their defence of the Meads Cup for the third consecutive year gains momentum .

We highlight this week our Match of the Round , as Horowhenua-Kapiti versus North Otago , in one of the rarer matches in the current Heartland Championship format these two sides have only met 4 times in the past 10 years with North Otago being dominant with a 100% winning record over the 4 matches played. But the importance of this match is that we see 4th (Horo-Kapiti) vs 5th (Nth Otago) on the ladder and a win in Levin for either side would solidify their position for Meads Cup Play-offs.

Horowhenua-Kapiti have been scoring freely this season and they must be looking towards a first ever victory over the Old Golds , the closest they have got was at their last meeting in 2013 when they succumbed 22-27 in Oamaru otherwise North Otago have had convincing wins in 2011 , 2008 and 2006.

A win without Bonus points would see Horowhenua-Kapiti climb to 17pts (18pts with Bonus Try) and North Otago would go to 16pts (17pts with Try Bonus) and with a rough cut-off of at least 26 points to make the Meads Cup with 3 matches after this and a possible 15 points still available the winner would be as they say in the “box seat” for a Championship Semi-Final.

With a loss and they risk falling pack into the pack with Wairarapa-Bush , Thames Valley , King Country and Poverty Bay behind them the pressure will be on those sides as they all have away matches this weekend. Which in itself makes for an intriguing round of matches. If Buller and West Coast pick up home victories then will have a table with 3 rounds to go that would have several teams still in contention for the coveted Meads Cup Semi Finals.

Mid Canterbury , Wanganui and South Canterbury can basically lock in the first three spots if they can defend their home field advantages this weekend while East Coast though the first team out of the finals race this season showed major improvement after some disappointing results in the first three weeks they bounced back to the style we know they can produced last weekj against Horowhenua-Kapiti only to lose their way in the final 5 minutes letting Horo-Kapiti use their “get out of jail card” .

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We begin our Match Breakdowns with West Coast hosting Wairarapa-Bush with a look firstly at the stats from the Heartland Championship where they have met seven times with a 4 – 3 win advantage to Wairarapa Bush , but these two (three) have actually met on 22 occasion since 1934 with 3 matches against the “Bush Union” and 2 matches versus the “Wairarapa Union” before the amalgamation of Bush and Wairarapa in 1971. An interesting stat from these meetings were in 1961 when West Coast traveled north to play them seeing the Coasters win 17-3 in Masterton then 4 days later they met Bush in Eketahuna to record the only Draw 14-14.

This trip was the final time they played Wairarapa as an individual union and they then met Bush one more time in 1964 when they (Bush) traveled to Greymouth , with West Coast being triumphant  11- 08. The next meeting was not until 1972 when West Coast traveled north once again to play the newly formed Wairarapa-Bush Union and the only time they had played in Pahiatua saw a victory to the hosts 25-04.

Overall Stats West Coast			Overall Stats Wairarapa Bush
Games Played	7		Games Played	7
*Games Won	3		*Games Won	4
*Games Lost	4		*Games Lost	3
Games Drawn	0		Games Drawn	0
*Longest.Winning.Streak	3		*Longest.Winning.Streak	2
*Longest Losing Streak	2		*Longest Losing Streak	3
*Largest Points For	37		*Largest Points For	46
*Largest Points Against	46		*Largest Points Against	37
*Largest.Winning.Margin	6		*Largest.Winning.Margin	46
*Largest Losing Margin	-46		*Largest Losing Margin	-6
*Total Points For	123		*Total Points For	192
*Avg Points For	17.57		*Avg Points For	27.43
*Total Points Against	192		*Total Points Against	123
*Avg Points Against	27.43		*Avg Points Against	17.57
*Total Points Difference	-69		*Total Points Difference	69
*Avg Points Difference	-9.86		*Avg Points Difference	9.86
* = By West Coast			* = By Wairarapa Bush
All matches played between West Coast and Wairarapa Bush 1934 – 2013
Overall Stats Buller			Overall Stats Poverty Bay
Games Played	8		Games Played	8
*Games Won	4		*Games Won	4
*Games Lost	4		*Games Lost	4
Games Drawn	0		Games Drawn	0
*Longest.Winning.Streak	2		*Longest.Winning.Streak	2
*Longest Losing Streak	2		*Longest Losing Streak	2
*Largest Points For	42		*Largest Points For	36
*Largest Points Against	36		*Largest Points Against	42
*Largest.Winning.Margin	20		*Largest.Winning.Margin	26
*Largest Losing Margin	-26		*Largest Losing Margin	-20
*Total Points For	184		*Total Points For	189
*Avg Points For	23.00		*Avg Points For	23.63
*Total Points Against	189		*Total Points Against	184
*Avg Points Against	23.63		*Avg Points Against	23.00
*Total Points Difference	-5		*Total Points Difference	5
*Avg Points Difference	-0.63		*Avg Points Difference	0.63
* = By Buller			* = By Poverty Bay
Heartland matches played between Buller and Poverty Bay 2006 / 2013
5-Oct-13 Poverty Bay 21 34 Buller 20-Oct-12 Buller 42 22 Poverty Bay 1-Oct-11 Buller 30 32 Poverty Bay 6-Aug-11 Buller 18 14 Poverty Bay 25-Sep-10 Poverty Bay 21 13 Buller 8-Sep-07 Poverty Bay 13 15 Buller 14-Oct-06 Poverty Bay 36 10 Buller 30-Sep-06 Buller 22 30 Poverty Bay
Overall Stats Horowhenua-Kapiti			Overall Stats North Otago
Games Played	4		Games Played	4
*Games Won	0		*Games Won	4
*Games Lost	4		*Games Lost	0
Games Drawn	0		Games Drawn	0
*Longest.Winning.Streak	0		*Longest.Winning.Streak	4
*Longest Losing Streak	4		*Longest Losing Streak	0
*Largest Points For	25		*Largest Points For	61
*Largest Points Against	61		*Largest Points Against	25
*Largest.Winning.Margin	0		*Largest.Winning.Margin	46
*Largest Losing Margin	-46		*Largest Losing Margin	0
*Total Points For	73		*Total Points For	179
*Avg Points For	18.25		*Avg Points For	44.75
*Total Points Against	179		*Total Points Against	73
*Avg Points Against	44.75		*Avg Points Against	18.25
*Total Points Difference	-106		*Total Points Difference	106
*Avg Points Difference	-26.50		*Avg Points Difference	26.50
* = By Horowhenua-Kapiti			* = By North Otago
Heartland matches played between Horowhenua-Kapiti and North Otago 2006/2013
12-Oct-13 North Otago 27 22 Horowhenua-Kapiti 3-Sep-11 Horowhenua-Kapiti 15 61 North Otago 23-Aug-08 North Otago 32 11 Horowhenua-Kapiti 7-Oct-06 Horowhenua-Kapiti 25 59 North Otago
Overall Stats Mid Canterbury			Overall Stats Ngāti Porou East Coast
Games Played	6		Games Played	6
*Games Won	4		*Games Won	2
*Games Lost	2		*Games Lost	4
Games Drawn	0		Games Drawn	0
*Longest.Winning.Streak	3		*Longest.Winning.Streak	2
*Longest Losing Streak	2		*Longest Losing Streak	3
*Largest Points For	67		*Largest Points For	20
*Largest Points Against	20		*Largest Points Against	67
*Largest.Winning.Margin	55		*Largest.Winning.Margin	7
*Largest Losing Margin	-7		*Largest Losing Margin	-55
*Total Points For	209		*Total Points For	71
*Avg Points For	34.83		*Avg Points For	11.83
*Total Points Against	71		*Total Points Against	209
*Avg Points Against	11.83		*Avg Points Against	34.83
*Total Points Difference	138		*Total Points Difference	-138
*Avg Points Difference	23.00		*Avg Points Difference	-23.00
* = By Mid Canterbury			* = By Ngāti Porou East Coast
Heartland matches played between Mid Canterbury and Ngāti Porou East Coast 2006/2014
27-Sep-14 Ngāti Porou East Coast 12 67 Mid Canterbury 15-Sep-12 Mid Canterbury 13 20 Ngāti Porou East Coast 6-Aug-11 Ngāti Porou East Coast 15 13 Mid Canterbury 25-Sep-10 Mid Canterbury 39 17 Ngāti Porou East Coast 13-Sep-08 Mid Canterbury 52 0 Ngāti Porou East Coast 19-Aug-06 Ngāti Porou East Coast 7 25 Mid Canterbury
Overall Stats South Canterbury			Overall Stats Thames Valley
Games Played	10		Games Played	10
*Games Won	9		*Games Won	1
*Games Lost	1		*Games Lost	9
Games Drawn	0		Games Drawn	0
*Longest.Winning.Streak	8		*Longest.Winning.Streak	1
*Longest Losing Streak	1		*Longest Losing Streak	8
*Largest Points For	42		*Largest Points For	37
*Largest Points Against	37		*Largest Points Against	42
*Largest.Winning.Margin	10		*Largest.Winning.Margin	4
*Largest Losing Margin	-4		*Largest Losing Margin	-10
*Total Points For	254		*Total Points For	210
*Avg Points For	25.40		*Avg Points For	21.00
*Total Points Against	210		*Total Points Against	254
*Avg Points Against	21.00		*Avg Points Against	25.40
*Total Points Difference	44		*Total Points Difference	-44
*Avg Points Difference	4.40		*Avg Points Difference	-4.40
* = By South Canterbury			* = By Thames Valley
Heartland matches played between South Canterbury and Thames Valley 2006/2013
19-Oct-13 South Canterbury 14 8 Thames Valley 24-Aug-13 Thames Valley 21 17 South Canterbury 8-Sep-12 South Canterbury 42 37 Thames Valley 1-Oct-11 South Canterbury 30 27 Thames Valley 24-Sep-11 Thames Valley 28 37 South Canterbury 4-Sep-10 South Canterbury 13 9 Thames Valley 12-Sep-09 Thames Valley 18 20 South Canterbury 11-Oct-08 South Canterbury 37 27 Thames Valley 22-Sep-07 Thames Valley 22 28 South Canterbury 2-Sep-06 South Canterbury 16 13 Thames Valley
Overall Stats Wanganui			Overall Stats King Country
Games Played	9		Games Played	9
*Games Won	6		*Games Won	2
*Games Lost	2		*Games Lost	6
Games Drawn	1		Games Drawn	1
*Longest.Winning.Streak	5		*Longest.Winning.Streak	2
*Longest Losing Streak	2		*Longest Losing Streak	5
*Largest Points For	52		*Largest Points For	30
*Largest Points Against	30		*Largest Points Against	52
*Largest.Winning.Margin	31		*Largest.Winning.Margin	1
*Largest Losing Margin	-1		*Largest Losing Margin	-31
*Total Points For	312		*Total Points For	166
*Avg Points For	34.67		*Avg Points For	18.44
*Total Points Against	166		*Total Points Against	312
*Avg Points Against	18.44		*Avg Points Against	34.67
*Total Points Difference	146		*Total Points Difference	-146
*Avg Points Difference	16.22		*Avg Points Difference	-16.22
* = By Wanganui			* = By King Country
Heartland matches played between Wanganui and King Country 2006/2014
18-Oct-14 King Country 6 37 Wanganui 11-Oct-14 King Country 30 29 Wanganui 24-Aug-13 Wanganui 16 17 King Country 13-Oct-12 King Country 19 22 Wanganui 6-Aug-11 Wanganui 50 19 King Country 18-Sep-10 King Country 22 52 Wanganui 13-Sep-08 King Country 19 47 Wanganui 29-Sep-07 King Country 11 36 Wanganui 26-Aug-06 King Country 23 23 Wanganui

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