Late drama at McLean Park
NPC WRAP: Hawke’s Bay extended their lead in the Championship after a last-gasp 29-28 victory over Bay of Plenty at Napier’s McLean Park on Saturday.
The tense, tight and passionate Battle of the Bays match went to the wire, with the Magpies scoring a 78th-minute try, for the bonus point, via replacement prop Joe Apikatoa.
It enabled Gareth Evans’ team to regain the MacRae-Shelford Cup, with Ian MacRae himself on hand to present the silverware and allowed Hawke’s Bay to call itself ‘The Bay’, in rugby circles at least, for another year.
The home side, whose home record since 2016 is curiously poor, started well.
Wing Jonah Lowe was in the tries again, scoring in spectacular fashion in the corner off yet another offload by his fullback JJ Taulagi. That was after just three minutes.
But then the Magpies got loose, tackling too high and on the back foot in the scrums. Mike Delany ran the cutter with aplomb and kicked his goals for Bay of Plenty.
Steamers scrumhalf Richard Judd scored the first of his two tries with a dart from a scrum, busting through an ineffectual tackle by his opposite Brad Weber. The visitors took a 13-8 advantage to oranges.
But the Magpies hit the second spell with more intent. Prop Ben May threw a long reverse pass which will make the highlight reels but of more import was the fact that Weber made up for his fragile defence with two key strikes within three minutes.
The first came from the unpromising position of a scrum in reverse, but he was slipped a nice ball from his No 6 Marino Mikaele-Tu’u. Weber then started his next try, hoisting a box kick, latched onto by Lowe who then fed his halfback with an inside ball. The try dive was early but it counted.
The Steamers’ errors were racking up, but they were far from out of the contest, Judd showing his pace to score from 40m out and then Delany diving over after a big break by replacement lock Aaron Carroll.
It was 28-22 until Apikatoa’s winning surge.
The two No.9s were outstanding, sharing four tries, but Will Tremain, who picked up one point in the Duane Monkley Medal ladder, offered telling impact off the pine.
The Magpies travel to Waikato for their next match on Thursday, while Bay of Plenty is away to North Harbour next Sunday.
* In the other Saturday match, Counties Manukau took advantage of a lack of finish from Southland to claim a lively 43-26 crossover win at Rugby Park in Invercargill.
Passing and handling issues cost Southland, who came up against a visiting side who, through the middle stages, showed a capacity to make full use of Southland’s mistakes anywhere on the field.
Saturday’s scores and scorers!
Southland 26-43 Counties Manukau
Scorers:
For Southland
Tries: Bill Fukofuka, Morgan Mitchell, Lewis Ormond, Nico Costa
Cons: James Wilson 3
For Counties Manukau
Tries: Fotu Lokotui, Luteru Laulala, Te Aihe Toma, Nigel Ah Wong, Joe Royal, Cardiff Vaega
Cons: Lautiume Fosita 4, Laulala
Pen: Laulala
Hawke’s Bay 29-28 Bay of Plenty
Scorers
For Hawke’s Bay
Tries: Brad Weber 2, Jonah Lowe, Joe Apikatoa
Cons: Tiaan Falcon 3
Pen: Falcon
For Bay of Plenty
Tries: Richard Judd 2, Mike Delany
Cons: Delany 2
Pens: Delany 3
Source: @Mitre10Cup
