Semi showdown shapes as battle of the bros [Fairfax]
OPINION: Fairfax sportswriters FRED WOODCOCK and TONY SMITH both have Tasman and Canterbury links. They take a lighthearted look at Saturday's NPC semifinal which looms as the biggest and best local derby in the rugby world.
Motueka born-and-bred Fred Woodcock reflects from his Rolleston base on the Makos' rugby rise and dares to dream of the biggest upset since Ben Hur.
Oh, how the worm has turned.
It wasn't long ago that Canterbury players who couldn't force there way into the top team were ushered up through the Lewis Pass so they could prop up then-second division Nelson Bays.
It was similar in the early days of the Tasman Makos, after the Bays combined with arch rivals Marlborough, an initially uneasy alliance that has since blossomed.
They used to call us Canterbury B. Now, it's the Makos who are propping Canterbury rugby up.
Yes, would the Cantabs even have a halfback if it wasn't for Tasman? Mitch Drummond is as Nelson as they come, while backup Steve Alfeld only shot to NPC prominence after a successful stint in Sharkland. And we shouldn't forget the Crusaders' excellent scrum in recent years was built upon Motueka's finest, the Franks brothers.
Let's face it, you Cantabs have always looked upon Tasman as your poor, deprived cousins.
They've been your second team, someone to cheer for against those scoundrels from the North Island in the knowledge they'd never be a threat to the red-and-blacks' mortgage on the NPC.
Well, never has arrived.
A Canterbury low on confidence must beat the high-flying Makos in Nelson on Saturday if they're to keep alive hopes of a seven-peat. Simple task, you'd say, but not this season. In fact, not in recent seasons.
You see, the Makos have Canterbury's measure. The term "bunnies" might be a bit of a stretch but they've beaten you in Nelson (25-22 in 2012) and they've beaten you in Christchurch. You surely haven't forgotten the 38-10 thrashing at AMI Stadium a fortnight ago? You know, the one when Tasman scored five tries to one?
Canterbury B? More like Canterbury A.
Tasman certainly won't lack motivation on Saturday; they never do against Canterbury.
You only have to look at the Crusaders' squad in recent years and the lack of Makos representation, it's enough to fire up anyone north of the Hundalees.
In fact, perhaps if quality players such as Robbie Malneek, James Lowe, Tom Marshall, Marty Banks, Liam Squire, Shane Christie, Alex Ainley (the list goes on) had been picked up by their "home" franchise rather than the Chiefs, Highlanders and Hurricanes, if at all, the Crusaders might have been able to win a Super title in the last six years.
And win or lose on Saturday, you know the Makos will play the better rugby.
Kieran Keane has developed the best brand of footy in the country. The Makos do it in style. There's no boring, methodical stuff at the top of the south, that's for sure.
You almost have to pinch yourself when you think back over the past 20-odd years and the progression from then to now.
I vividly remember Mark Milne's world-famous-in-Nelson try for Nelson Bays to win the 1992 third division final against Horowhenua in Levin, the Warren Johnston penalty that moved about 20m from left to right in a stiff breeze to win the 1992 second division final against Bay of Plenty in Nelson, and sweet victory over Hawke's Bay in the 2004 second division final, also in Nelson.
But I'd have pronounced you mad if at any stage you'd not only suggested the Griffins and Red Devils would later combine, but would be hosting a first division semifinal against the might of Canterbury, having lost just two matches all season.
There's only one thing left to say -Fins Up.
From the 'burbs of Bishopdale, Tony Smith was exiled to Nelson before returning on early parole. He says the sun won't be rising in the Top of the South on Sunday morning.
The Makos may think they're big fish now, but they're still a satellite suburb in the Canterbury rugby conurbation.
A procession of Canterbury coaches have taken up missionary positions in Marlborough or Nelson down the years, including Grizz Wyllie, Bill Liddell, Wayne Love, Todd Blackadder and current Makos mentor Kieran Keane.
Would Keane have been as able had he not played all those years in a Belfast backline outside rugby professor Wayne Smith? And his right-hand man Leon MacDonald was barely out of short Marlborough Boys' College pants when he came to the Canterbury and Crusaders' rugby finishing school before returning home, via Japan, to spread the gospel.
Top of the South talent once had to shift south to have any hope of making the All Blacks. Witness Brian (The Kaikoura Express) Ford and Motueka's finest, Terry Mitchell, through to MacDonald and Anton Oliver at the dawn of the professional era.
But the trade balance was preserved by blokes like Seddon stock and station agent Richard Loe, Blackadder, Rob Penney, Chris Jack and Greg Feek heading in a northern direction.
That trend continues to the present day. Kieron Fonotia's a clubmate of Ryan Crotty at New Brighton - he's eastside to the core. Reefton refugee Marty Banks played club rugby in Christchurch and prop Tim Perry's a mighty man of the Mid (Canterbury, that is).
One can only marvel at the rugby renaissance in the Top of the South. When I first surfed up on a Nelson beach, young Fred Woodcock was barely a gleam in a Motueka accountant's eye and Nelson Mail rugby writer Wayne Martin was a Nelson Bays wing.
Back in (gasp) 1980, it could have been argued then that Nelson was the worst rugby centre in New Zealand, per capita. Nelson Bays were strictly third division then, struggling to beat tiny towns like North Otago and East Coast.
The Red Devils of Marlborough were a bit better. But, if anyone had suggested then that Nelson Bays and Marlborough would one day merge he'd have been whisked off to Ngawhatu Hospital's padded cell. You'd have had more chance of reunifying North and South Korea.
Marlborough folk have never forgiven their neighbours since Nelsonians first poked their heads over the top of the Richmond Ranges and cast covetous glances at grazing lands on the Wairau Plains.
So big ups to the UN-style diplomat who achieved the once impossible feat of uniting two Seddon Shield rivals in a common cause. It's a shame the Marlborough RFU had to sell Lansdowne Park to balance Tasman's books.
Hats off to the Makos for reaching the nosebleed heights of a NPC premiership semifinal. It's sad it's all got to come to a shuddering end.
Forget that 38-10 aberration at AMI Stadium. Canterbury teams only kick into gear whenever the playoffs roll around. Once chaps like Matt Todd, Nasi Manu, Tom Taylor and Adam Whitelock sniff a semifinal, they sprout an extra limb. And a leg of Canterbury lamb will beat a shark fin anytime. Form is temporary, class is permanent. The Makos are set for be biggest gutting this side of a Sealord filleting shed.
The six-time champs will soon be in seventh heaven.
- The Press
