Mooloos sink in the Bay
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:23
Hawke's Bay held on in the face of a fierce second-half comeback from Waikato, but the Magpies had just enough in the tank to hold off the Mooloo Men and secure 31-28 win at McLean Park, Napier, on Sunday - to advance to the Air New Zealand Cup semifinals.
The home team was ahead 28-0 at half-time, and despite the visitors' improved effort after the break, the Bay did enough to secure their fourth win at home over Waikato in the last two years.
In last year's quarterfinals, Hawke's Bay hung on for a 38-35 victory against Waikato, also at McLean Park.
The win means Bay captain Danny Lee has at least one more game in New Zealand, before he moves overseas - in Christchurch next weekend against a Canterbury team which is looking more ominous with every match.
Canterbury secured their home semifinal with a 48-10 quarterfinal demolition of Tasman, while Wellington will be at home to Southland after the Lions beat Taranaki 50-30. Southland became the first team in two years to win an away quarterfinal when they upset Bay of Plenty 45-11 in Mt Maunganui on Saturday.
It looked as though Hawke's Bay were going to run away with Sunday's game, as they crossed twice in the first 10 minutes through Zac Guildford and Jason Shoemark.
With five minutes until half-time, Karl Lowe crashed over for the Bay's third try, Matt Berquist's well-taken conversion giving them a 21-0 lead - a lead which was extended in the last minute of play when an undetected forward pass saw Shoemark cross for his second try and a 28-0 lead at the break.
Waikato came out firing in the second spell, scoring their first try of the match just three minutes after the restart.
Jackson Willison crossed after the ball was moved wide quickly, and Sitiveni Sivivatu flipped back a no-look pass for the second five-eighth to latch on to and score.
Callum Bruce made sure of the conversion, and Waikato looked a different side as they launched repeated attacks on the Hawke's Bay line.
Sivivatu featured again after 55 minutes, stepping through a mesmerised Hawke's Bay defence and crashing over from short range to leave Bruce with the easiest of conversions to edge Waikato closer at 14-28 down.
Loosehead prop Faka'anaua Taumalolo was sinbinned after the try for repeated used of hands in the ruck, leaving Hawke's Bay a man down. Waikato made the most of the numbers advantage soon after when Tom Harding scored after he was set up by a great run in broken play from Bruce.
Hawke's Bay extended their lead to 31-21 with a Berquist penalty, after Sivivatu was penalised for tackling a player without the ball, only to see Waikato reply almost immediately when All Black Richard Kahui ghosted through to score an excellent individual try.
With Bruce's conversion, Waikato were three points astray with 10 minutes to go, but the staunch Bay defence held strong to secure the win.
The scorers:
For Hawke's Bay:
Tries: Shoemark 2, Guildford, Lowe
Cons: Berquist 4
Pen: Berquist
For Waikato:
Tries: Willison, Sivivatu, Harding, Kahui
Cons: Bruce 3, Kahui
Yellow card: Faka'anaua Taumalolo (Hawke's Bay, 58)
Teams:
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 Johan Snyman, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Hikawera Elliott, 1 Faka'anaua Taumalolo.
Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Josh Keys, 18 Matt Egan, 19 Pama Petia, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Daniel Waenga, 22 Ayden Clarke.
Waikato: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Sosene Anesi, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Jackson Willison, 11
Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Callum Bruce, 9 David Bason, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Tom Harding, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Romana Graham, 4 Toby Lynn (captain), 3 Aled de Malmanche, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Vern Kamo, 17 Toby Smith, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Matt Blain, 20 Malcolm Barnes, 21 Dwayne Sweeney, 22 Tim Mikkelson.
Referee: Vinny Munro
Touch judges: Chris Pollock, Brent Murray
TMO: Josh Noonan
Additional reporting NZPA
