Slow start costs Bay

Poverty Bay Wekas openside flanker Keanu Taumata reaches for a try in the corner during their Week 6 Heartland match against North Otago at the Oval on Saturday. Poverty Bay lost to their southern visitors 50-43 after trailing 12-38 at the break. Picture by Paul Rickard

Poverty Bay threatened to pull off one of the greatest comebacks in its rugby history before falling 50-43 to North Otago in a Heartland rugby game in Gisborne on Saturday.

The Old Golds stunned the home side with 26 points in the opening 15 minutes at the Oval   hosted by Pirates,  and led 38-12 at halftime.

The Wekas rallied superbly in the second 40 to fall one try short — North Otago scored eight to the Bay’s seven — and had to settle for a losing bonus point, plus a point for scoring four tries or more.

The defeat — the fifth in a row for the Bay — dropped them to 11th on the 12-team table — while North Otago are fifth.

Openside flanker Keanu Taumata and winger Taine Aupouri scored two tries apiece for the Bay while second-five Jacob Leaf celebrated his blazer (30th) match with a five-pointer.

First-five Jonty Stewart and replacement flanker Seth Lundon scored the other tries.

“It was disappointing to get off to such a slow start,” Poverty Bay head coach Miah Nikora said.

“But I was really proud of the effort in the second half.”

All their reserves who came on contributed strongly, he said.

Unfortunately, the damage was done in that opening period.

The Bay looked stuck in second gear as North Otago came out firing.

A big chunk of the half had gone before the Bay got going, and when they did hit top gear, the points came.

“It was some of the best attacking rugby we’ve seen since Buller in Week 1,” Nikora said.

“It shows that when our game clicks, we can be a really dangerous side and can  mix it with the best of them.

“This North Otago side are really good . . . and some of those guys out there were massive.”

Nikora paid tribute to Leaf.

“He was outstanding . . . as he has been in every game this year,” Nikora said.

“It’s (30 games) a massive achievement for him and hopefully there’s many more games to come in the red jersey for him.”

Hawke’s Bay-based player of origin Stewart, who  made his debut for the Bay the week before, started in the No.10 jersey in the absence of injured co-captain Kelvin Smith.

He slotted into the Bay systems and structures well.

“It was a real classy effort from him,” Nikora said. “He didn’t try to overplay his hand. He put guys into space and took the line on when he needed to. I thought he varied his game really well as a 10 and gave us good direction.”

Nikora said wingers Aupouri and Te Peehi Fairlie “looked dangerous” when given ball and Moses Christie “added a bit” when he came on at fullback.

“We are a dangerous team when we put things together. We just need to be more consistent with that.”

The second of Taumata’s tries came on fulltime and was one to remember, finished off in the style of NZ Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.

“Keanu is prone to the odd freakish moment as we saw in that King’s Birthday game against the Coast with his chip and chase down the sideline,” Nikora said. “He’s another one I thought was massive. In terms of determination and heart, he showed that in abundance.”

North Otago head coach Jason Forrest said their strong start proved vital.

“We were very lucky we scored points early to be honest,” he said. “We knew we had to do that. Forrest said they were well aware of Poverty Bay’s attacking ability and he praised them for the way they fought back.

“They certainly tried, and tried hard,” Forrest said. “There were momentum shifts backwards and forwards and we were lucky enough to get across the line in the end.

“We got those last couple of tries that saved us.

“Regardless of the results, I know they haven’t gone the way for the Bay boys . . .  but they are a good side and they showed that.

“Full credit to the Bay boys, they gave us a fight, which we needed, which was awesome.

“Great day for footy up here. Great support, great crowd. It’s never an easy place to play for us. We probably don’t play that well when we come up here so we are happy.”

Poverty Bay 43 (Keanu Taumata 2, Taine Aupouri 2, Jonty Stewart, Jacob Leaf, Seth Lundon tries; Ricardo Patricio 2, Stewart 2 cons).

North Otago 50 (Hayden Tisdall 3, Lucas Casey 2, Kelepi Funaki, Junior Fakatoufifita, Jesse Bowring tries; Tyron Davies 5 cons)