Six-try flying start stuns Buller in Heartland opener

Poverty Bay fullback Ricardo Patricio goes over to score the first of his double in a 23-minute, 40-point blitz against Buller in the opening Saturday of the Heartland Championship. The Bay beat Buller 52-33 at the Oval after leading 40-14 at halftime. Pictures by Paul Rickard

Poverty Bay kicked off the Heartland Championship in sensational style on Saturday, scoring 40 points in the opening 23 minutes in a 52-33 win over Buller.

Fullback Ricardo Patricio scored 20 of those 40 points, including two tries, and winger Joe Tikicidre also crossed for a double as the Bay stunned their southern opponents at the Oval.

Buller mounted a powerful comeback but the damage had been done and the home side earned maximum points with their eight-tries-to-five victory to be sitting in third place on the table headed by reigning champions South Canterbury.

The Bay welcomed back prop Jarryd Broughton (based in Hawke’s Bay), centre Ted Walters (Hawke’s Bay) and Morgan Reedy (Waikatō) as players of origin and after a long recovery from injury, Moses Christie made his way on to the paddock from the bench.

Second-five Mitch Purvis and Patricio marked their 10th matches in the Wekas jersey with a win.

“That was just what we wanted,” head coach Miah Nikora said of their opening blitzkrieg.

“We wanted a fast start. We picked a big pack because we wanted to get on top of them early on and we were able to implement that really well — particularly in that first 20-to-25 minutes.

“It was awesome to have Jarryd back as a player of origin. He definitely got us going forward early on.”

Tikicidre began the try-scoring in just the second minute when he went over in the corner, followed by hooker and co-captain Shayde Skudder four minutes later. Prop Nehe Papuni made it three tries in 10 minutes and Patricio dived over in the 14th for the Bay’s fourth.

The onslaught continued as Tikicidre completed his double in the 17th. Patricio converted all five tries, three from the sideline, before adding his second five-pointer in the 23rd which he failed to convert.

A shellshocked Buller found themselves 40-0 down and staring down the barrel of an embarrassment similar to 2021 when the Bay crushed them 76-14 in Gisborne.

But they knuckled down and finished the half strongly with tries to hooker Leopino Maupese on debut and centre Michael Stringer.

First five Jack Parker converted one of those as the home side went into the break up 40-12.

An ankle injury to Buller prop Anthony Ellis in the opening minutes of the second half halted the game for at least 10 minutes while emergency personnel attended to him and an ambulance came on to the field.

After the injury break, the Wekas went back into battle mode and prop Broughton used all of his immense force to bust over the line for a try in the 43rd minute — 45-12.

But Buller were back in this game and momentum swung as they shored up their defence and turned attack into points with tries to replacement back Joel Hands, lock Caleb Havili and wing Iliesa Tora — all three converted by Park as the deficit was reduced to 45-33,

But it was a case of too little, too late, and a brilliant chip-and-chase try by Wekas flanker Keanu Taumata hammered the final nail in Buller’s coffin.

Patricio added the conversion and impressive Japanese referee Katsuki Furuse blew the fulltime whistle.

While delighted with a first-up win, Nikora felt their focus “dropped off a bit”.

“We went away from the basic stuff

. . . and got a bit loose.”

“I think with a side being up by that much, there can be a tendency to relax a little bit, and we did that.

“We went away from our structures . . . that will be a big focus for us this week.”

Alongside Patricio, openside flanker Taumata had an outstanding game “in the tough stuff and on the loose”.

Nikora was also pleased to see Christie come on in the 50th minute for his first game since suffering an arm injury in club rugby.

“The beginning of May was when he last played, so it was good for him to get out there and get 25 minutes under his belt, and hopefully that will give him confidence moving forward.”

Buller head coach Nathan Thompson said they struggled to find their groove in that opening period.

“I think the penalty count was six-nil (to the Bay), and from six opportunities (they scored) six out of six, . . . some pretty good skills. They did it nicely.

His halftime talk was about finding energy and wanting to be in the game.

“We got a bit of the ball in the second half, and showed that we can play but when you’re 40-nil down, it’s too many. We spoke about Poverty Bay and how much pride they have got in the jersey and how much they love playing at home.

“They give themselves a massive chance when they are playing at home. They have great support. The town comes down and supports them and why wouldn’t they?

“They play a great style of footy and we just couldn’t handle the jandal.”

The Wekas are away to Thames Valley this Saturday. The Swamp Foxes upset Whanganui 36-33 on the Butcher Boys’ home turf in their opener.

Tūranga Tuatara defeated King Country Development 26-13 in Saturday’s curtain-raiser.

Tūranga Wāhine beat Hawke’s Bay Development 27-0 in Wairoa.

Poverty Bay 52 (Joe Tikicire 2, Ricardio Patricio 2, Shayde Skudder, Nehe Papuni, Jarryd Broughton, Keanu Taumata tries; Patricio 6 con)

Buller 33 (Leopino Maupese, Michael Stringer, Joel Hands, Caleb Havili, Iliesa Tora tries; Jack Parker 4 con).

HT: 40-14.