Canterbury comeback sees off Bay
A late Tom Christie try powered Canterbury to a thrilling comeback win against Hawke’s Bay in Christchurch yesterday.
Down 25-8 after Lincoln Mcclutchie converted Brad Weber’s 55th-minute try, the red-and-blacks looked down and out in their final match of their storm week.
However, they roared back with three converted tries and a Fergus Burke penalty goal to win 32-28 and make it threestraight bonus point victories in the space of nine days, cementing their place atop of the Evens conference with five wins from six games (26 points).
They were aided by a Danny Toala brain-fade a few minutes after the final hooter had sounded, when he inexplicably opted to kick inside Canterbury’s 22 when they were sniffing a last-ditch try.
Burke gleefully gobbled it up, before booting the ball out and sealing what seemed like an unlikely victory with 25 minutes to play.
They had midfielder Rameka Poihipi (early tackle) in the bin when Hawke’s Bay blew out to a 25-8 lead, and looked zapped, even with a hefty breeze at their backs in the second half.
Forget it. On a day when their lineout would best be described as a shambles, replacement Isaiah Punivai stepped off his right foot and smashed his way over the line in the 61st minute to spark their rousing comeback.
A moment later, Punivai, Burke and replacement halfback Willi Heinz uncorked offloads to put captain Billy Harmon away from 60 metres out, before Burke slotted a penalty to knot the game up at 25-25 with 15 to play.
Forced to take over the goalkicking after Lincoln Mcclutchie hobbled off, Weber slotted a penalty and put the visitors up 28-25 with six minutes to play, but Canterbury’s response – a multiphase try – through Christie was swift.
Weber rued his side’s lack of discipline after the match, which featured referee James Doleman demanding the lippy Magpies cut out their constant chat.
The visitors, led by outstanding loose forward Marino Mikaele-tu’u, will also rue their inability to score after the halftime hooter and build on their 13-5 lead, when they were held up over the line after launching from a 5m scrum.
But they might also consider themselves lucky to have had Lolagi Visinia’s first-half try not come under any scrutiny, given there was more than a hint of a forward pass in the ball he took before galloping to the line.
It wasn’t the only high-scoring thriller on the day, with Bay of Plenty upsetting Otago 33-27 in Dunedin.
Pivot Kaleb Trask kicked a couple of late penalties to bag the bonus point win, set up by an Emoni Narawa double, the first of which followed a sublime offload by Kaveinga Finau.
As entertaining as yesterday’s fixtures were, the result of the round has to be Northland’s remarkable 23-22 upset of Auckland in Whangārei on Saturday.
Sealed by a late Rivez Reihana penalty, and highlighted by a brilliant Kauika-petersen try, it marked their first home win against big brother in NPC history, and their third overall since 1976.
The Taniwha, who won just one game last year, improved to 4-1 on the season with the win, good enough for third in the Evens conference, behind Canterbury and Auckland.