Late try gives Wellington narrow win At a glance
The Battle of the Bays is shaping as the decisive contest in the race to win promotion from the Mitre 10 Cup Championship.
Hawke’s Bay extended their unbeaten start to the season in round six of the National Provincial Championship, beating Waikato 27-34 on the Mooloos’ home turf in Hamilton, while Bay of Plenty were too strong for Taranaki in New Plymouth, prevailing 31-17.
Those results left the Magpies at the top of the table with 28 points from five wins and a draw, seven clear of Bay of Plenty, who have 21 points.
The bay teams appear to have a firm grip on the top two spots – and hosting rights for the semifinals – and it will surprise no-one if they meet in the final at the end of October.
Hawke’s Bay now await a visit from Taranaki next weekend, while Bay of Plenty are away to Northland, with the regular season clash between the two to follow in round eight.
Canterbury continued to right themselves after starting their season with three losses, thumping Northland 42-12 in Whangarei on Friday night to make it three wins in a row, cementing themselves in the hunt for the Premiership semifinals.
Owen Franks made his first appearance since his shock omission from the All Blacks’ World Cup squad and was impressive as six of his team-mates got on the scoresheet.
Next up for Canterbury is a visit from Manawatu¯ , which Wellington have once again left it late to win a Farah Palmer Cup match.
After edging Bay of Plenty last week courtesy of a last-gasp try, the Pride picked up their most impressive result of the Premiership campaign by beating Counties Manukau 38-36 in similar fashion at Westpac Stadium yesterday.
Black Ferns lock Joanah Ngan-Woo was the hero for Wellington, scrambling over for a try with only four minutes remaining to level the score 36-all, before Amanda Rasch slotted the subsequent conversion.
Counties looked to have won the game when Lavinia Tauhalaliku sprinted clear of the defence and scored in the righthand corner. But the visitors were unable to withstand Wellington’s late rally, with Shontelle Woodman’s 75th minute yellow card forcing them to defend frantically with only 14 players.
Elsewhere, there was a thriller at Central Energy Trust Arena as Chelsea Alley slotted a late drop goal to give Waikato a dramatic should provide a good chance for the red-and-blacks to make it four wins out of four.
The Turbos picked up their second win of the season – and second in a row – on Saturday, as Ngani Laumape scored twice to help them come from behind in Invercargill, winning 31-26 and extending Southland’s losing
streak to 27 matches.
Southland’s first win in nearly three years had been on the cards as they led by 19 points half an hour in, but they didn’t score again after that as the Turbos ran in 24 unanswered points.
Auckland made hard work for themselves on Saturday night, Akira Ioane, Tumua Manu and Jonathan Ruru all spending time in the sin bin, reducing Alama Ieremia’s side to 14 men for half an hour of their clash with Counties Manukau.
The defending champions won 28-13 in the end in Pukekohe, the final whistle coming well after 9.30pm, which prompted Ieremia to say afterwards that it was the weirdest game he’d ever been involved in.
Awaiting Auckland are Wellington at their Eden Park home, while Counties Manukau will make their way to Invercargill, looking to hand Southland their 28th consecutive loss. Farah Palmer Cup, week three:
Hawke’s Bay 39 (Moomooga Palu 2, Michaela Baker, Kathleen Brown, Chanel Huddleson, Tori Iosefo tries; Sylvia Brockman con, pen; Krysten Cottrell 2 con) North Harbour 10 (Olivia Ward-Duin try; Sophie Fisher con, pen).
Tasman 36 (Steph Mitchell, Tamara Silcock, Rebecca Kersten 2, Wairakau Greig tries; Hayley Hutana 4 con, pen) Taranaki 22 (Iritana Hohaia, Lavenia NaugaGrey, Alesha Williams, Chelsea Fowler tries; Hohaia con).
Waikato 15 (Lonita Ngalu-Lavemei, Donna Reynolds tries; Chelsea Alley con, drop goal) Manawatu 12 (Carys Dallinger, Rangimarie Sturmey tries; Selica Winiata con).
Otago 40 (Julia Gorinski, Kilisitina Moata’ane, Amy du Plessis 2, Sheree Hume, Hannah Stolba tries; Hume 5 con) Northland 7 (Savannah Bodman try; Kararaina Wira-Kohu con).
Auckland 28 (Isla Norman-Bell, Kiri Demant, Patricia Maliepo, Nataliah Moors tries; Maliepo 4 con) Bay of Plenty 19 (Kristy Yule, Nadia Flavell, Sapphire Tapsell tries; Tapsell 2 con).
Wellington 38 Counties Manukau 36.
15-12 win over Manawatu¯ .
Auckland bounced back from last week’s defeat to Canterbury to beat Bay of Plenty 28-19 at Rugby Park, outscoring the opposition four tries to three.
Rebecca Kersten inspired Tasman to a 36-22 win against Taranaki at Yarrow Stadium. The winger, who has returned from a season playing sevens in Japan, set up a spectacular try for Tamara Silcock and before scoring
two of her own as Tasman led 26-0 at halftime.
Championship leaders Otago continued their perfect start to the new season, running in six tries to secure a comfortable 40-7 win over newcomers Northland at Trigg Stadium.
But chasing Otago hard are Hawke’s Bay who beat North Harbour 39-10 thanks to a double from reserve prop Moomooga Palu.