Kia Ora and Coastal set for showdown
The Kia Ora Warriors are through to the Coast to Coast rugby league final against the Coastal Cobras, but it will come down to a toss of a coin as to who hosts it.
Both teams won their semifinals on Saturday, but because they are both the topranked team in their pools, it is believed a coin toss will determine who gets home advantage, rather than points differential.
Taranaki side the Coastal Cobras have a points differential of 88 while Palmerston North’s Kia Ora have a points differential of 180.
Whoever hosts the game, Kia Ora will be in good form for the final, having thrashed Whanganui Boxon 61-10 in their semifinal at Fitzherbert Park.
Boxon started the game well and were up 6-0 after scoring first, as Kia Ora kept making mistakes.
But Kia Ora settled things down and started to get on top, going on to lead 28-6 at halftime and then took control of the game.
Centre Hoeata Maxwell-blake was Kia Ora’s star. He scored a hat-trick, got involved with a lot of support play, made a couple of crucial covering tackles and was sound defensively.
Half Taylor Haimona-young is accurate with the boot and he had another 100-per-cent day off the kicking tee. He also scored two tries and slotted a field goal when there was nothing on.
Prop Matthew Malama made a big impact off the bench, making some strong carries and he was good on defence.
The booked their spot in the final by beating the 34-14 in their semifinal at Opunake.
Linton had to re-jig their lineup with players away on exercises and even coach Ray Warner was away, so former coach John Tuala had to take the team.
Coastal Cobras Linton Cobras
The two forward packs had a good battle in the first half and it was tight until Coastal scored right before the break to take a 20-14 lead into halftime.
Prop Pita Marshall and James Halalupe were getting big metres for Linton.
But in the second half, Coastal started getting on top and Linton, with guys playing out of position, couldn’t stay with them.
Linton’s player of the day was lock Lugh Gimpl, who put in a big 80-minute shift.
Nikolao Ioane and Tevita Faukafa were strong in the centres and five-eighth Jason Franklin played well too. In the minor playoffs, the lost 34-26 to the
in New
Magpies Western Suburbs Tigers Tainui Rhinos Bridge Pa, Ohakea
Plymouth.
Ohakea only had 14 players, so coach Morehu Dellow had to play.
Even still they were in it at halftime, where they led 20-16, but the Tigers overhauled them in the second half.
Standoff Darren Pullen was vocal in the halves, setting up tries and scoring one himself, and fullback Johno Bismarck was sharp at the back.
The were meant to travel to Hastings to play
but Tainui defaulted.