E. Coast through to Lochore Cup final
Ngāti Pouro East Coast withstood a late comeback from home team Horowhenua-Kāpiti to win the Lochore Cup semifinal at Levin Domain last weekend.
Spurred by plenty of support from fans who made the long journey south, the visitors opened the scoring with an early penalty and were never headed thereafter.
The recipe for East Coast was simple: muscle up in the forwards using some big men to gain an advantage at the breakdown, and rely on the classy halves combination of Sam Parkes and Carlos Kemp to run the show.
Parkes put in a man-of-the-match performance in scoring three tries at halfback — just the ninth East Coast player to achieve the feat — while Kemp controlled the match well at first five-eighth on the back of the front-foot ball.
Kemp also showed a clean pair of heels at times and a useful boot to match, kicking two penalties and a conversion.
Although East Coast were never headed by the home team at any stage, they weren’t able to relax either.
Despite being dominated at the breakdown and spending long periods in their own half, HK managed to stay in the game and with time up on the clock almost took the match into extra time.
In the dying moments of the match, HK winger Louie Northcott had a chance to go over for his fourth try of the game, which would have tied the match 37-all with a successful conversion.
But with the tryline in sight, the final pass was at Northcott’s bootlaces and he was bundled into touch short of the tryline.
The whistle blew for full time and the East Coast players rejoiced, as did their hordes of vocal fans that must have numbered more than 200.
Early penalties were traded before Parkes scored the first of his three tries to give East Coast a 10-3 lead. HK hit back with a try to centre Darren Falaniko, converted by first-five Kody Edwards.
East Coast scored again through lock Khian Westrupp and second-five Joe Wadman, only for the raw-boned Northcott to go over for the first of his three tries for HK to keep them in the game.
With pace and a busy workrate, Northcott caused East Coast problems out wide and his hat-trick was just reward for some hard running.
For the home team, No 8 Joel Winterburn carried well all game and was never knocked back, centre Falaniko always looked dangerous, and halfback Jack Tatu-Robertsson added some zing late in the game as legs grew weary.
The entire East Coast forward pack could take a bow and laid the platform for the win, while the inside back pairing of Parkes and Kemp provided plenty of space for outside backs Wadman and centre Damien Herewini to make easy yards.
In the other Lochore Cup semifinal, Mid Canterbury beat North Otago 31-15, setting up a final against East Coast at Whakarua Park in Ruatoria this weekend.
In the Meads Cup semifinals, South Canterbury beat King Country 76-9 and Whanganui beat Thames Valley 25-18, setting up a final between South Canterbury and Whanganui at the weekend in Timaru.
■ SCOREBOARD: East Coast 37 (S Parkes 3, Khian Westrupp, J Wadman, C Kemp 2 pen, 3 con) beat Horowhenua-Ka¯ piti 30 (L Northcott 3, D Falaniko, K Edwards 2 pen, con, J Tatu-Robertsson con).
This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air.