21-0 down, then an 84th-minute winner: Whanganui snatch the Lochore Cup 43-42

Whanganui were 21-0 down after 18 minutes of the Lochore Cup final in Timaru. They won it 43-42, with first five-eighth Tevita Asi scoring under the posts and converting his own try more than 80 minutes into the game, at Fraser Park on Sunday 18 October.

The collapse, then the climb

South Canterbury came out flying. Patelesio Oneone scored inside three minutes, and halfback Willie Wright, the Heartland Championship's all-time leading points scorer, scored two tries of his own and converted all three for a 21-0 lead.

Whanganui answered with three tries before half-time, through Shay Smith-Luond off an Asi pop pass, Jack Yarrell from a rolling maul, and Jonty Bird from a lineout drive set up by an Asi 50:22 kick. Oneone's drop goal kept South Canterbury ahead 24-17 at the break.

A second half of punches and counter-punches

Fynlay Hobson scored under the posts after a long run from No 8 Salesi Savelio, the best of South Canterbury's forwards, and Wright's conversion made it 31-17. Yarrell's second try and a Wright penalty traded blows, then Alekesio Vakarorogo, the competition's record try-scorer, ran in a try from inside his own 22 to make it 34-31. Anuanu Ohai's try and a Taine Cordell-Hull penalty in the 74th minute put South Canterbury 42-31 up with six minutes left.

It should have been over. Ekenasio Fiso, earlier sin-binned for stopping an intercept run, scored in the corner in the 77th minute to cut the gap to six, and with the clock past 80 Whanganui went through the phases until Asi found a gap under the posts. His conversion won it. Whanganui scored seven tries to South Canterbury's five.

The numbers

Willie Wright finished with 21 points from two tries, four conversions and a penalty, taking a career total that had already passed 600, the only player in Heartland history to do so. Vakarorogo's try added to a competition-record tally of more than 55. Whanganui's Jack Yarrell scored twice. South Canterbury captain Finlay Joyce was gracious in defeat: "That's footy, and we'll come back next year better."

Third title for Whanganui

It is Whanganui's third Lochore Cup, after 2014 and 2021, and it caps a remarkable finals series: they reached the final by beating Horowhenua Kapiti 39-38 after extra time in the semifinal, so their last two games were decided by a single point each. South Canterbury, coached by Luke Reihana in his first season, scored more points than any side in the competition this year and used close to 50 players, including 14 debutants.

Some early reports gave the score as 45-42 and the day as Saturday. It was 43-42, on Sunday.