Rugby: Lagibola hat-trick seals win

Elijah Nicholas had a storming game for Bay of Plenty Development against Northland Development on Saturday.

Bay of Plenty Development ran out winners over Northland Development by 44-39 in an 11-try thriller at Greerton Park on Saturday.

The game resembled a giant game of sevens for the most part and certainly the tries scored were highly entertaining efforts.

Individual try scoring honours went to the Fijian talents of Bay of Plenty's Jone Lagibola, who scored a hat-trick including the match winner in the final minute, and Northland's Jone Macilai, who scored two with his blistering pace.

Aside from his eye for the tryline, Whakatane Marist midfielder Lagibola was a constant threat with ball in hand and along with Elijah Nicholas had a merry time of it in the second spell, cutting the Northland defence to bits.

Bay of Plenty coach Craig Jeffries would rather have seen far fewer unforced errors and less poor option taking from his side, particularly in the last 20 minutes of the first half when Northland dominated to the extent they led 26-10 at halftime.

But some canny changes made by Jeffries at the break, particularly the input from halfback Jonty Wood and Steamers prop Ziggy Fisi'ihoi, made all the difference as the Bay ran in five second-half tries.

Jason Harvey, Fisi'ihoi and Wood scored Bay of Plenty's other tries with Mathew Cole, Tim O'Malley and Mason Walker adding the extras from the tee.

In the other game played at Greerton Park, Bay of Plenty under-19s lost 36-3 to Waikato under-19s in round two of the grading games to find the seedings for next month's Jock Hobbs Memorial Under-19 tournament in Taupo.

Waikato were quickly into their stride with the young Bay of Plenty boys struggling to gain parity up front and to defend for multiple phases against their opponents, who have trained together since November.

Bay of Plenty coach Cory Sweeney says Waikato dominated the set pieces and possession, which gave them the momentum to drive forward on attack.

"They exposed us through the middle of the field and they had a very strong forward pack that managed to get three tries really close to the line," Sweeney said.

"They have been together a long time and a lot of them are full time and getting pretty well resourced. But our boys certainly had fighting spirit. They stayed in it and they showed real passion towards the cause, but I think it highlighted the level that we've got to be at."