Magpies end drought at the 'Brook
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:56
The Hawke's Bay Magpies ended a break 24-year drought at Carisbrook when they beat Otago 19-10 in their Round Five Air New Zealand Cup match in Dunedin on Friday.
In a rugged encounter a late resurgence by Otago was not quite enough to secure the win.
It was a game dominated by strong defence, at times, from both teams - as the encounter produced only two tries.
After a dominant first 20 minutes by Otago, the Hawke's Bay team rallied to lead 16-3 at the break 16 - thanks to a try by Zac Guildford and the boot of Matt Berquist, who kicked two penalties, a conversion and a drop-goal.
In the second half the game went from end to end, as man-of-the-match Matt Berquist - returning a 100 percent record - stretching his team's lead to 19-3 with his third penalty.
His haul of 14 points took his competition tally to 60 from five games, making him the leading scorer in the championship.
However, a try to Daniel Bowden with five minutes to go gave the Otago team the motivation to come home strongly. But it was too little too late for the home team.
The win also moved Hawke's Bay into the top four for the first time this season, on 15 points, and dislodging Otago, who without a bonus point from the game, drops down to sixth place.
Otago started promisingly, moving the ball wide at every opportunity for the first 10 minutes, but could not unlock a solid Hawke's Bay defence.
However, the Hawke's Bay tight forwards soon got into their astride - with hooker Hikawera Elliot, as well as props Sona Taumalolo and Anthony Perenise creating the platform from which the visitors set up a handy half-time lead.
Hawke's Bay's try was set up by a series of punishing forward drives down the short side and with Otago's defence on their heels, the ball found Guildford who was too fast for the cover.
A penalty from No.10 Chris Noakes was all Otago had to show from their first half endeavours and they trailed 3-16 at the breather.
The game did not rise to any great heights in the second half, with Hawke's Bay content to defend their lead - which they did very effectively.
Scorers:
For Otago:
Try: Bowden
Con: Noakes
Pen: Noakes
For Hawke's Bay:
Try: Guilford
Con: Berquist
Pens: Berquist 3
DG: Berquist
Teams:
Otago: 15 Glen Horton, 14 Karne Hesketh/Lucky Mulipola, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 11 Ben Smith, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Sean Romans, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Craig Newby (captain), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Ben Nolan, 2 Peter Mirrielees, 1 Keith Cameron.
Replacements: 16 Jason MacDonald, 17 Jed Vercoe, 18 Paul Grant, 19 Seko Qaraniqio, 20 Toby Morland, 21 Daniel
Bowden, 22 Lucky Mulipola/Casey Stone.
Hawke's Bay: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Jason Kupa, 13 Jason Shoemark, 12 Sam Giddens, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Matt Berquist, 9 Danny Lee (captain), 8 George Naoupu, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Michael Johnson, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 Matt Egan, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Hikawera Elliot, 1 Faka'anaua Taumalolo.
Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Josh Keys, 18 Johan Snyman, 19 Adam Bradey, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Richard Buckman, 22 Mark Jackman.
Referee: Keith Brown
TMO: Chris Pollock
