The Mid Canterbury Heartland side were back in action over the weekend with their home game. They played host to the ninth placed King Country side. The Hammers would've made their way into the top four with a win against King Country, so it was an important clash to win. Going into the weekend's game the Hammers were in some great form after winning back to back games. The Mid Canterbury Development side also had their last game of the Hanan Cup competition against South Canterbury at the Showgrounds on Saturday as well. 

The Hammers spent the beginning of the game hard on defence as King Country came ready to play and spent long periods with ball in hand. The game was always close but the Hammers found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreline in the end going down 22-34. 

Mid Canterbury's point scorers were midfielder Isireli Masiwini, Lock Manasa Samo and halfback Tyler Blackburn. First five Tom Reekie kicked one penalty and one conversion and reserve first five Nathan McCloy also kicked a conversion. Next weekend Mid Canterbury travel up to Levin to play Horowhenua Kapiti, who will be looking to bounce back after they suffered a 23-89 defeat against North Otago this weekend. 

The Mid Canterbury Development team were at home over the weekend as they played against South Canterbury A. It was the last game of the Hanan Cup competition for the Mid Canterbury team. It was a difficult day at the office for the Development side as they went up against a very good South Canterbury team. It was a high scoring affair with 75 points scored in the game. Unfortunately for the Development side they went down 21-54 to close out the Hanan Cup competition. 

Next weekend the Mid Canterbury Hammers are off to Horowhenua Kapiti in a seventh versus eighth matchup. The next home game for the Hammers is against South Canterbury on 1st of October, which is the Heartland side's televised game for the season and will double as a charity match for the Union's chosen charity this year - The Meningitis Foundation of NZ

Article added: Monday 19 September 2022