It may have taken 20 years, but King Country finally has their hands on the Meads Cup.

King Country Liam Rowlands and his team celebrate with the Meads Cup they have won for the first time. Photos Boris Nogtev (MEADS CUP)

By Bradan Lindsay

A 24-14 away victory over Mid Canterbury at the Ashburton Showgrounds scored the Rams their first Meads Cup title since its inception in 2006.

The trophy is awarded to the best team in the Heartland Championship and while King Country have won the Lochore Cup twice, this ranks well above those two victories. 

King Country's road to the title wasn't easy, after a final round loss to Whanganui meant they had to do it the hard way defeating North Otago in Oamaru in their semifinal before their successful trip to Ashburton.

All season King Country have been a superb side and despite a strong start from the home side, the visitors never panicked and really took control of the match in the second half through their powerful scrum and strong ball runners.

Experience always helps and they had that in loan player Joe Walsh, who has more than 50 caps at NPC level and former Samoan international loose forward Fritz Lee.

Two years ago they won a high scoring Lochore Cup final over West Coast and after a disappointing ninth last year, have really matured as a side in 2026 and taken things up another level.

The Meads Cup is named after King Country and All Black great Colin Meads, one of the greatest players of all time.

King Country coach Aarin Dunster was incredibly proud of his team and the performances they have put in throughout the season. 

“Very proud. It’s a goal for any Heartland coaches to win that and it’s more special for our province. It’s a big achievement and I’m really proud of the boys.”

Dunster said a core of the group was the same and it helped with their success this year.

“The culture is something I’ve been working with them the whole four years I’ve been coaching. I guess in rugby you change some certain positions things start to click and when you get a few wins together you gather momentum and the guys started believing in themselves.”

King Country Rams fans show their support for the team in their final in Ashburton. (FANS)

The squad Dunster assembled had a good core of local players. 

“The guys that came in fed and bought in on the culture we had. No one was bigger than the team.”

Dunster said they knew Mid Canterbury would be tough.

“We knew they were a top side. Very clinical and do things well. We did our homework on them and I am just glad the boys picked up another gear in that second half and got it done.”

He was pleased for his fellow coaches and himself to tick off the Meads Cup goal, it now means Dunster has the double after winning the Lochore Cup two years ago.

“It takes a whole group and that is what happened. Very proud of the entire group coming together and doing well.”

He said other than a couple of blowouts early in the competition it was another fantastic Heartland Championship.

The only slight disappointment was not hosting the final in Taupo.

“The team culture and unity and belief and knowing we could do it away from home was key but so was work ethic. We knew we had to work to get it and when we did we were accurate and things came off for us.”

All season it had come down to the entire squad and King Country had a squad of close to 30 players vying for spots and Dunster said that was healthy competition for the squad and pushed everyone to be better.

In the final, King Country were behind early with Mid Canterbury's Manaso Samo dotting down for a converted try.

A good passage of play saw King Country strike back with a try out wide to winger Styris Harland.

Mid Canterbury then produced a good passage of play and went over through second five eighth Tom Reekie, who also converted his try to push them ahead 14-5 at halftime.

The second half belonged to the Rams as they outscored the home team 17-0, loose head prop Walsh was the first to do some damage sneaking over shortly after the break.

King Country who continued to find holes in the Mid Canterbury defence were then rewarded with a try to captain and hard working hooker Liam Rowlands, before Josevata Malimoce scored and a Hone Mathieson conversion sealed proceedings.

Flanker Reeve Satherly speaking after the final struggled to find words to describe their efforts. 

“It means so much to this group. It’s a special group and such a proud rugby union and to bring the Meads Cup home just means so much.”

He said it was just special being able to repay such awesome fans.

“We were just over playing our hand a bit in the first half and knew we just had to stay cool.”

“It's hard to put into words just how much this means for the King Country.”

Skipper Liam Rowlands was delighted for his team.

“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves losing that last round robin game. I think the belief in the team goes a long way and no matter who we were playing, no matter where we were playing we were going to give it our all. We were looking forward to coming down here and playing a good Mid Canterbury team, someone we hadn’t met this season.”

Dunster is now involved with the New Zealand Heartland squad that is set to include some of his King Country teammates.