Magpies crush Stags in Shield challenge
A hat-trick to hooker Tyrone Thompson has helped power Hawke’s Bay to yet another successful Ranfurly Shield defence.
Up against a Southland side who hadn’t tasted an NPC victory this year, the Magpies cruised to a 69-24 victory in a points-scoring bonanza that belied the wet conditions at McLean Park in Napier yesterday afternoon.
After Thompson bagged his three tries, his replacement, Kianu Kereru-Symes, notched two maul efforts of his own, while winger Ollie Sapsford flew over for a double, too, and Lincoln McClutchie kicked like a demon with 17 points off the tee as the Magpies won the second half 45-7.
With their 14th defence of the Log o’ Wood, Hawke’s Bay’s reign is now the second-equal-longest of this century, matching Canterbury’s 2004 to 2006 tenure, and over halfway to the red and blacks’ 24-game effort from 2000 to 2003. Their 10-tries-to-three bonuspoint romp also keeps the
Magpies in a comfortable spot in the Odds pool, safe in second spot for the weekend, one point behind leaders Waikato (though having played one more game than the Mooloos).
Going into the game 0-5 and already all but out of quarterfinal contention, the Stags, who hadn’t held the shield since 2011, presented as a potentially dangerous nothing-to-lose challenger, and while Hawke’s Bay made the better start, the visitors opened the scoring when Rory van Vugt surged to the corner in the eighth minute.
However, after the Magpies took all of a couple of minutes to respond through a jinking and powering 10-metre Pouri RaketeStones burst, Southland would not see the front again.
On the back of a Thompson maul try and a 70-metre special finished by Brad Weber they fought back well, with a brilliant back-flick offload from van Vugt sending Robbie Robinson over, making it 19-17. But then came 26 unanswered points to the home side.
Thompson was menacing and got on the back of another lineout drive to bag a second try as his side went to halftime up 24-17.
Then just a few minutes into the second stanza the Magpies meant business, as No 10 Lincoln McClutchie’s pinpoint kick saw Neria Fomai fly over to extend the margin. Then a close-range lineout brought Thompson’s hattrick, not from a rolling maul but from a Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
charge, then the hooker sliding over out wide.
At 38-17 the Stags needed a desperate hit back, but their day was summed up when a long attacking sequence came to nothing and Chase Tiatia booted a near full-field 50-22 kick.
When Sapsford scored soon after that was the game done at the hour-mark, though there was still fun to be had, including a brilliant wide-out conversion from blindside flanker Mikaele-Tu’u, who was celebrating his 50th game.
The shield is on the line again against Wellington next Saturday.
Meanwhile, there was another hooker’s hat-trick as Bay of Plenty beat North Harbour 48-34 to climb to third in the odds pool and improve their quarterfinal chances. Kurt Eklund crossed three times for the Steamers and Naitoa Ah Kuoi twice in a high-scoring match in Albany in a game where all 10 tries were converted.
The visitors surged to a 25-point lead after the break and while Harbour rallied in the
second half, they had to settle for a four-try bonus point, and remain fourth in the evens pool.
The final game of the day also proved to be a high scorer, with Manawatā ’s miserable season continuing, with a 41-33 defeat to Counties Manukau. The Turbos hadn’t beaten the Steelers in Pukekohe since 1980, and that didn’t look like changing after they fell into a 33-7 hole, as Peniasi Malimali and Jared Page bagged first-half doubles for the hosts.
It was a crucial win for Counties, who go level on points with fifth-placed Otago in the odds pool, while the 0-7 Turbos remain rooted to the bottom of the evens pool.