Substitute Xavier Hill scores for Hastings Rugby and Sports, but it wasn't enough, his side being beaten in a Maddison Trophy semifinal by defending champions Taradale. Photo / Ian Cooper
Substitute Xavier Hill scores for Hastings Rugby and Sports, but it wasn't enough, his side being beaten in a Maddison Trophy semifinal by defending champions Taradale. Photo / Ian Cooper
Ray White Real Estate Hawke’s Bay Premier club rugby will get a repeat of last year’s championship final match-up with an all-Napier showdown for the Maddison Trophy next Saturday at McLean Park, Napier.
Taradale, now going for three Maddison triumphs in a row extinguished the last hope from outside Napier when they beat Hastings Rugby and Sports 34-24 in one semifinal today at Tareha Recreation Reserve, Taradale while first-round Nash Cup winners Napier Tech Old Boys travelled across town to beat Napier Old Boys Marist 29-25 at Tremain Field, Park Island.
Taradale went to an early lead and were up 19-0 but it was 24-14 at halftime amid a Hastings comeback which closed the gap to five points before the home-side maroons scored the last of their six tries to secure the game as it slipped further into the grey and gloom in which both matches were played.
Playing into the wind first in their game, Tech had to work hard as the lead changed six times after OBM first five-eighths Jonty Stewart made it 6-0 with two early penalties.
Tech hit the lead for the first time with tries to wing Waitangi Tuisuga and the first-of-three to second-five-eighths Falealii (Gibson) Popoalii, but OBM was back in front at 13-12 at halftime with Stewart’s conversion of a 40th-minute try to prop Pulea Faleiva.
OBM reclaimed the lead at 20-19 with Stewart’s conversion of a try to flanker Mitchell Gibson, Popoalii scored again which with first five-eighth Sheridan Rangihuna’s conversion put the Texans back in front at 26-20, but there was just a point in it when fullback Paoraian Manuel-Harman scored wide out, with substitute first-five Bain Champion missing a difficult conversion attempt across the wind.
A penalty from close range for Rangihuna enable Tech to hold out for the win in what was the more enterprising performance with backs prepared to run and pass at any time despite the conditions, against an Old Boys Marist side which put in some particularly brave defence.
The Taradale match was test of the progress of first-year coaches and former Hawke’s Bay Magpies front row members Namatahi Waa, for Taradale, and Jason Long, for Hastings, the latter conceding Taradale was the better side with the greater experience, while he fielded a young side with about colts-eligible players whom he looks forward to working with again next season.
Among features of the Taradale performance were the two tries scored by fullback Brayden-Trevaughn Lansdown-Cunningham and one to new Hawke’s Bay Magpies NPC squad member Sam Wye, subbing-on at halfback.
Tech’s win was some payback for a one-point loss to OBM on June 24, at that stage putting the semi-final prospects in jeopardy after being beaten 22-17 by Taradale seven days earlier, Tech’s first loss in 2023.
Now Tech will go to the final looking for further payback having been unbeaten last year until Taradale scored a golden-point try in extra time to claim a 33-28 win in last year’s Maddison Trophy final.
Taradale this season has won 15 of its 16 games, the only loss being Tech’s 34-14 win when the two sides met in the Nash Cup competition, and has a record of 625 points for and 369 against.
Tech has won 13, drawn one and lost two, with 660 points for and 311 against, all-round putting the final in even balance.
No 8 Iakopo Mapu scores his 16th try of the season for Taradale in winning a semifinal and taking his side into the final, with hopes of winning the Maddison Trophy for a third year in a row. Photo / Ian Cooper
Tech now has both the top try-scorer and the top points-scorer in Premier rugby this season with Popoalii’s treble taking him to 17 tries, one more than Taradale No 8 Iakopo Mapu who scored one of his side’s tries today, while Rangihuna is the first past 150, his nine points today taking him to 158, with OBM’s Stewart next on 146.
In Division 1 Hepa Paewai Memorial Trophy semi-finals, Clive brought off an upset to beat Havelock North 14-10 at Anderson Park, Havelock North, and Dannevirke side Aotea went close to a boilover in the other at Tamatea Park in Napier when beaten 45-42 by Napier Pirate.
Clive will play Pirate in the final also at McLean Park next Saturday.
Meanwhile, Tapuae won the Poverty Bay Division 1 final with a 25-17 over defending champion Wairoa Athletic to claim the Lew Patterson Cup Division 1 title at Lambton Square, Wairoa, on Saturday.
Tapuae had made its way to the final with a 15-12 win over third Wairoa side Nuhaka the previous weekend, when Athletic beat north-of-Gisborne side Uawa 45-10 in its semifinal.
