Aotea senior rugby side leave run too late against Pirates

Aotea's haka gave the team a strong start to the game.

Not even two converted tries in the last six minutes could earn Aotea seniors a win against Pirates at Rugby Park Dannevirke on Saturday, June 18.

After a minute's silence for recent iwi deaths, a spirited haka set the platform for a mighty battle between Aotea and Pirates, which eventually went the visitor's way 26-22.

Aotea attacked strongly from kickoff and a brace of penalties went Aotea's way inside Pirate's 22 with unsuccessful tap-and-run options chosen each time until Hoera Stephenson landed a kick to take a 3-0 lead.

The lead was short-lived. Pirates were as sharp on the attack as they had been resilient in defence and a very strong lineout drive yielded a try in the corner for Pirates to go 3-5 up.

Wella Hauraki feeds winger Sam Jones for the final try in the corner.

Aotea, however, were not to be denied and following a forward charge, centre Tama Petera grubber-kicked through for fullback Waka Petera to score, giving Aotea back the lead 8-5.

It took an individual piece of brilliance to put Pirates back in front when a mercurial run by Pirates fullback Matt Murtha jinking off both feet split the defence to score, which was converted to take Pirates to 12-8.

Worse was to come just before halftime, with the same player taking a high ball and ghosting 50 metres through a tired Aotea defence to score again under the posts, making the halftime score Pirates 19-Aotea 8.

The second half was a tough forward battle with no points being scored for 30 minutes until a pass back saw a fumble by Aotea and a try to Pirates seeing them comfortably ahead at 26-8.

So they thought!

This seemed to fire Aotea up and the whole side combined to put Pirates under pressure. A number of penalties were awarded in Pirate's red zone with Aotea – needing tries – choosing the tap-and-go option.

They went close, then closer until No 8 Jacob Stephenson crashed over by the posts. The score became Pirates 26-15 with five minutes to play.

Aotea camped in Pirate's 22, attacked and spun it wide for flying winger Sam Jones who was pushed out in the corner, but with time running out a second attempt had him over the line.

A remarkable left-foot drop kick conversion from the sideline by Hoera Stephenson saw the gap close to four at 26-22 but Pirates held out, a vocal crowd of their supporters heaving a sigh of relief.

It was a festival of exciting rugby, a huge crowd watching both senior Dannevirke senior teams displaying great skill and determination against equally strong opponents. That very large crowd enjoyed the games and helped fill Aotea's coffers on its Club Day.