It’s been a long time between drinks, 13 years in fact, since Wairarapa Bush tasted championship success, and it’s fair to say our playoff record is not flash.
Since the inception of the Heartland Championship in 2006, Wai Bush have made the semifinals of the Meads Cup or Lochore Cup 10 times but have been knocked out at that stage on seven occasions.
In fairness, six of those defeats have been in away semifinals in the Meads Cup, which were contested by the top four teams. Only once have Wai Bush won a Meads Cup semifinal, and that was in the inaugural season – a 25–19 win over North Otago at Memorial Park. That team, under the astute coaching of Peter Russell, went on to become the first to lift the trophy, upsetting favourites Whanganui 16–14 away from home.
Interestingly, that was Wai Bush’s second consecutive championship victory, having won the last NPC Third Division title the previous year in a thrilling 28–23 defeat of Horowhenua-Kapiti at Memorial Park. The “green and reds” had finished top qualifiers and made the final with a 20–14 semifinal defeat of Buller.
Other Meads Cup semifinal appearances came in 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2019.
Three of those were at the unhappy hunting ground of Oamaru to North Otago, the most recent being a controversial 27–25 loss in 2019 when the team were denied a clear breakdown penalty in a kickable
position with time up.
The 2010 Lochore Cup was the last time Wai Bush celebrated championship success, but they did it the hard way after qualifying fourth. A 21–17 win away to top qualifiers King Country meant a trip to Victoria Square, Buller, for the final.
Wai Bush lifted the trophy named after the province’s favourite son, All Black captain and coach Sir Brian ‘BJ’ Lochore, for the one and only time, taking the honours 15–9 in a tryless encounter, with all their points coming from four penalties to Jeremy Te Huia and a drop goal to Byron Karaitiana.
Their only finals appearance since then came in 2018 when they went down to Horowhenua-Kapiti 26–23 in a thriller at Levin.
Making that final was an achievement in itself. Having been thumped 24–0 by North Otago at Memorial Park in the last round of the regular season, the two teams squared off at the same venue the week later. This time, Wai Bush triumphed 30–21 to book the bus trip to Levin.
Wai Bush’s only other Lochore Cup semifinal appearance was in 2008 and resulted in a 37–17 thumping at the hands of Horowhenua–Kapiti.
Of course, that’s all past history and will have no bearing on how Copthorne Wairarapa Bush fare on Saturday when they host West Coast, but it does highlight how difficult it is to win in the highly competitive Heartland Championship.
Coach Reece Robinson has targeted silverware from day one in the role and is confident he has the players and the game plan to go all the way and lock the Lochore Cup in the trophy cabinet for the summer.
Trust House Memorial Park is a massive home advantage, and all that is needed now is a big home crowd to force that home. There will also be a keen eye on Oamaru in the hope that Poverty Bay can upset North Otago, and who knows, we could be hosting the final the following weekend.
