If only.
If only rugby games lasted just 40 minutes.
If only the most dominant force in Heartland Championship did not have an immensely strong bench and a propensity to blow teams away in the second half.
That was the story in Temuka on Saturday as South Canterbury came roaring home to defend the Hanan Shield with a 44-31 win over old rivals North Otago.
The Old Golds, as they did in 2023, gave the three-time defending Meads Cup champions a heck of a scare.
They raced to a 14-0 lead inside 10 minutes through converted tries to prop Bradley Harewood and fullback Ben McCarthy.
Midfielders Tini Feke and Hayden Todd then got in on the act to lead North Otago to a 28-5 advantage shortly before halftime.
But the rest of the game belonged to South Canterbury.
They closed the gap to 28-17 at halftime and were simply irresistible in the second half.
Winger Peala Matakaongo scored two tries for South Canterbury and prolific No 8 Siu Kakala also got on the scoreboard twice.
North Otago co-captain Mat Duff said there were plenty of positives from the first half an hour of the game.
"We sort of just bullied the bullies, really", Duff said.
"We got them on the back foot and it felt like they really didn’t have any answers when we put them under pressure, and everything we were doing was going to plan.
"Just a couple of mistakes led to soft tries to them in the last 10 minutes of the first half, which really kept them in the game."
South Canterbury executed well in the second half and the Old Golds were punished by some more mistakes, Duff said.
North Otago have slumped to 10th in the Heartland Championship with one win from five games and might need to win two of their remaining three games to squeak into the Lochore Cup and maintain their 24-year playoff streak.
"We know we’ve got skill across the park. There is still some silverware on the line and we know we can get back on track."
It was a weekend of high-octane rugby in the Heartland Championship with nine of the 12 teams scoring at least 30 points.
Both East Coast and Wairarapa-Bush set records. Each scored 45 points — a Heartland record for a beaten team — as Thames Valley beat East Coast 60-45, and Horowhenua-Kapiti beat Wairarapa-Bush 62-45.
Whanganui stayed second on the ladder with a 48-26 win over Mid Canterbury, Buller beat Poverty Bay 36-28 and King Country beat West Coast 43-17.
Heartland Championship
The scores
South Canterbury 44
Peala Matakaiongo 2, Siu Kakala 2, Lieuli Simote, Clarence Moli tries; Willy Wright 4 con, Faalele Iosua 2 pen.
North Otago 31
Bradley Harewood, Ben McCarthy, Tini Feke, Hayden Todd tries; Greg Dyer 4 con, pen.
Halftime: North Otago 28-17.
