Ninety seconds.
That is all it took for halfback Seru Cavuilati to break away and get North Otago on the board.
And for the first 30 minutes, the Old Golds looked the goods and showed some real flashes of brilliance to lead 21-10.
But once Whanganui clicked into gear, the Butcher Boys were too strong, keeping the Old Golds scoreless in the second half and piling on their own to win 39-21 in the Heartland Championship opener at Cooks Garden on Saturday.
The Old Golds will be all the better for their opening game and there were nice glimpses of what fans can expect this season.
They just struggled to shut down Whanganui’s key playmakers and execute in their own area when it counted in the second half.
Blindside flanker Mitch Morton put in a mighty defensive shift on debut and was in the thick of everything. First five Kenta Iemura drove the team nicely as well.
Cavuilati — also on debut — broke away to score early and give the Old Golds a 7-0 lead.
Whanganui struck back when experienced first five Dane Whale shimmied through and put Alekesio Vakarorogo into space.
The Old Golds kept the ball in hand, building a long passage of play that eventually led to a reward.
Centre Ben Fakatava looked to be in as Whanganui slipped off the tackle, but he dished off to blockbusting No 8 Junior Fakatoufifita, who crashed over.
Whanganui were uncharacteristically messy, dropping balls cold and struggling to find their flow, and there were plenty of signs it was the first game of the season for both teams.
Fullback Adam Boult — who was outstanding — banged over an ugly penalty off the posts 25m out to close the gap.
North Otago showed good intent at the breakdown when hooker Hayden Tisdall cleaned out Whanganui’s defenders about 40m out.
That allowed Fakava to come straight over the ruck and scoop up the ball to find the space for winger Hopate Finau to run away with a nice try on debut.
That extended the Old Golds’ lead to 21-10 before Whanganui found some space.
Whale dished off a lovely inside ball for Boult to score, and hooker Matthew Picard scored from a rolling maul to give Whanganui a 24-21 lead at halftime.
Boult scored the opening 13 points of the second half, banging over a penalty and converting his own try for a comfortable 34-21 lead.
There was a bit of a lull through the middle of the second half when neither team were able to execute.
Whanganui’s exit was charged down and when they retrieved it, Morton brought them down in-goal.
The Old Golds strung together phases but could never break through.
Vakarorogo scored late to seal the victory for Whanganui.
Old Golds prop Jake Greenslade came off the bench for his 50th Heartland game.
Mid Canterbury dominated defending champions Thames Valley 50-34 in a repeat of last year’s Meads Cup final.
South Canterbury (50-29 over Wairarapa-Bush) and Horowhenua-Kapiti (59-14 over Buller) had big wins, Poverty Bay beat East Coast 18-8, and West Coast beat King Country 38-18.
Heartland Championship
The scores
Whanganui 39
Adam Boult 2, Alekesio Vakarorogo 2, Matthew Picard tries; Boult 4 con, 2 pen.
North Otago 21
Seru Cavuilati, Junior Fakatoufifita, Hopate Finau tries; Kenta Iemura 3 con.
Halftime: Whanganui 24-21.
