Rugby: Tauranga secure home advantage

Greerton Marist winger Tino Nemani in possession.Photo/Drops Photography

Tauranga Sports clinched a home semifinal next Saturday at their Tauranga Domain headquarters after a dramatic 16-5 victory over an unlucky Greerton Marist side on Saturday.

The cyclonic weather made it an afternoon for the two forward packs who spent the 80 minutes bashing into each other and striving for yards into the wind.

Both sides had so much to play for, with second-placed Tauranga Sports looking to nail a home semifinal and fifth-placed Greerton trying to steal the last play-off spot.

Tauranga had the gusty wind and rain behind them in the opening half but failed to make it work for them. Master kicker Paul Morris kicked two penalties from in front to wipe out the try scored by Greerton's tighthead prop Mahe Tua'i for an uncomfortable 6-5 lead at the break.

But Greerton were no better at controlling possession and territory in the second spell and as the weather deteriorated it looked like 6-5 may be the final score.

Then, with 10 minutes to play, Greerton winger Tino Nemani was sin-binned for his Joseph Parker impression in front of referee Mark Hollinshead. Paul Morris made it 9-5 with his third penalty a minute later and finally the game was safe for Tauranga, when new Steamers fullback Byron McGuigan held a long pass from Nick Evemy to score out wide.

Greerton are unlucky in the final analysis to miss next week's semifinals, after playing so much positive rugby this season, but will rue losing to bottom club Rangiuru in pool play. Still the last two seasons have been a massive turn-around for the champion junior rugby club, now a force to be reckoned with at premier level.

Tauranga Sports coach Mike Rogers was relieved they held on for a chance to defend their title.

"To be honest I was pretty disappointed with the first half.

"We didn't really execute our game plan well with the wind. Our kicking was pretty aimless at times. Second half it was just going to take a whole lot of being clinical and disciplined and working together.

"We had that real bad lull in the middle of the season which is something I have never encountered either playing or coaching here. To lose five out of seven or eight games and three in a row was really disappointing.

"We decided on a new game which is based around a kicking game. The most pleasing thing for me was the boys stuck at it. If someone had told me after that Mount [loss] we would have to win seven games in a row to make the semifinals, I would have said that's impossible."

Tauranga Sports 16 (Byron McGuigan try; Paul Morris con, 3 pens) Greerton Marist 5 (Mahe Tua'i try)