Weather plays wild card in Heartland game | Manawatu-Wanganui Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Manawatu-Wanganui

Wanganui weather watchers gained a few rugby converts on Saturday when their team squelched almost to a halt on a Cooks Gardens field struggling to drain after a late winter rain assault.

Steelform Wanganui did manage to get its Heartland Championship rugby defence on its way with a 13-6 win over South Canterbury, but unless the skies clear and the ground starts to drain, Wanganui's dry-track approach to rugby will have to be changed.

The rainfall figures for August tell the tale - up to 6pm Friday there had been 121.2mm rainfall, as against Wanganui's average August rainfall of 73.6mm. There's been quite a bit more over the weekend. And the newly sown Cooks Gardens has struggled to cope.

In fact yesterday, four hours after an early morning drop of slight content, puddles had still not dispersed through much of the ground - is that draining right?

In two weeks, Wanganui plays West Coast at Cooks Gardens - in the meantime the team travels to Levin to play Horowhenua/Kapiti.

Both those teams lost on Saturday, West Coast lost 35-18 to Thames Valley at Paeroa, and Horowhenua/Kapiti threw away a 12-0 halftime lead over King Country at Te Kuiti to lose 17-12.

Wanganui finishes its pool with matches against the two winners, King Country at Taupo and Thames Valley on Cooks Gardens.

The shock of the Heartland on Saturday was the loss of Mid Canterbury 20-25 to Poverty Bay - at Ashburton - while North Otago created a points record in beating East Coast 116-3.

That's an early indication that the other pool might be the stronger.

But certainly the state of the ground, not helped by a short, sharp downpour almost on kick-off, didn't help Wanganui or South Canterbury play the game they wanted.

Wanganui coach Guy Lennox took the unlikely course later of almost apologising for the match:

"Look at that field - isn't it shocking? It's hard to play rugby on that. That slowed the game down to what they wanted - set play to set play.

"Players said that at times they just couldn't run in it - it was just like suction. Players with quick feet just couldn't get themselves going.

"People who came along and watched would have been disappointed because it's not the kind of rugby we are used to playing - but if they come back I can guarantee you'll see a vastly improved side - especially if the conditions allow it.

"I think it will be far different here in a couple of weeks."

Certainly Wanganui will be the better for the run. Captain Matt Gilbert gave the effort just "a solid five." New No 8 Adam Roe suggested "probably a six - I would like to think we've got another four points in us."

Only South Canterbury coach Simon Scott was the only dissenting voice about the ground - "it's five-times better than what we played Marlborough on a couple of weeks ago!"

FOOTNOTE: The downpour just before ths start did claim a victim, and Wanganui may change their warm-up systems as a result - Wanganui centre Fraser Middleton, in "trainers" as were the other players, slipped and turned an ankle while warming-up on the athletic track.

Middleton was taped, and played the whole game - but was sore after the match.