South Canterbury suffered a surprise 55-22 loss to King Country in Te Kūiti at the weekend, which has seen the “Green and Blacks” slip from first to sixth in the Heartland Championship.

Such is the closeness of the competition, at the halfway stage, six of the 12 unions have recorded three wins from four games. Had South Canterbury scored a fourth try against King Country for a bonus point they would be sitting second.

King Country sit on top with 17 points, one point clear of Whanganui, Thames Valley, Mid Canterbury and North Otago, with South Canterbury on 15.

King Country’s only loss came the week before, upset 32-31 by North Otago.

South Canterbury travel to Ashburton on Saturday to face Mid Canterbury in what is a “must win” game, with North Otago the following week. Despite the size of the loss to King Country, South Canterbury still has the best points differential at plus 129, should that be needed to separate sides at the end of the round robin.

On Saturday, Whanganui also suffered their first loss of the season going down 19-17 to Horowhenua-Kapiti, while North Otago beat Poverty Bay 45-27 and Mid Canterbury had a tougher than expected game against Buller, eventually winning 45-27.

Ngati Porou East Coast won their first game of the season 66-43 away against West Coast. It would have been a big celebration afterwards after going winless last year. 

At Rugby Park in Te Kūiti, South Canterbury got away to a flying start with right wing Lisiate Folau scoring after only 1 minute on the clock, with No.8 Siu Kakala and prop Vaka Taelega grabbing a try each and they led 22-20 at halftime.

The second half was all King Country scoring 35 unanswered points, including 14 in quick succession after the restart.

South Canterbury coach Luke Reihana said his side did not fire a shot after halftime.

“We were clunky and mentally not there, which was disappointing as we prepared well.”

Reihana said the biggest disappointment was to leak 55 points, especially with close to his top side on display.

“The effort was there but not the accuracy.

“We pride ourselves on our defence, and to be fair there are some good sides so you might expect 20 points against you but certainly not 55.”

They would need to regroup quickly with Mid Canterbury a very good side and then North Otago, Reihana said.

“It is close competition, so every game is important.”

The game kicks off at the Ashburton Showgrounds at 2.30pm.