An emotional night for Havelock North captain Jesse Paewai, after the Division 1 final raising the new Hepa Paewai Memorial Trophy, named in memory of his grandfather. Photo / Doug Laing
An emotional night for Havelock North captain Jesse Paewai, after the Division 1 final raising the new Hepa Paewai Memorial Trophy, named in memory of his grandfather. Photo / Doug Laing
Usually proud and mighty rugby club Havelock North restored some of its might and much of its pride in a 44-12 win over Dannevirke club Aotea in the big match on the opening night ofthe Hawke's Bay Rugby Union's new McLean Park finals series in Napier on Friday.
On a mild evening, with the temperature in Napier still over 16 degrees Celsius after 10pm – an hour and a half after the final whistle - Havelock North led 29-0 at halftime in the Senior 1 showdown and ultimately scored eight tries for its ninth mainly comfortable win since a shock relegation after losing all five Premier Round 1 Nash Cup games earlier in the season.
Aotea scored twice, but it was 39-0 before the first came with just 12 minutes to play, much too short a time to seriously contemplate ascension of an even bigger mountain than that of six days earlier when Aotea scored six converted tries in 28 minutes to turn-around a 36-points deficit and beat Napier Old Boys Marist 49-46 in a semifinal in Dannevirke.
The game could have lost some sting with both sides having already guaranteed places in the 2022 Premier first round – regular Maddison Trophy winner Havelock North back after barely two months since its backward propulsion, and Aotea for only the second time, after an absence of 15 years.
Aotea won the Saracens Shield - most competition points, non-Premier club. From left HBRU president Neil Pulford, Aotea captain Tame-Sean Petera, finals organiser Gary Macdonald. Photo / Doug Laing
But no one was having anything of that in a unique match-up, with both sides determined to win the newly-presented Hepa Paewai Memorial Trophy.
Paewai was the great halfback Aotea lent to Havelock North in the interests of producing a 1960s Hawke's Bay Ranfurly Shield hero and would have been an All Black but for the quality of those ahead of him – Chris Laidlaw and Sid Going.
There were relatives on both sides, but the big winners were the Havelock midfield pairing of captain Jesse Paewai and brother Kalin – grandsons of Hepa Paewai, and sons of Havelock North and Hawke's Bay Magpies match-centurion Murdoch Paewai, with sister and former hockey international Caryn Paewai were on hand for then presentation.
Winner of eight of the 17 Maddison Trophy finals the club had played since playoffs were introduced in 1988, it was a grade down was new territory for Havelock North, and Jesse Paewai conceded at times it felt "sick" to be in the position the team had been.
"It wasn't the best feeling," said the skipper after the triumph in his 74th game in the club's first XV stripe since 2014.
He said the side struggled to get 10 or more players at early training sessions, but things started to move too late in the Nash Cup round, and younger players started stepping up, including prop Angus Keefe and open-side flanker Nicholas Hutton, who each had good games on the night.
"Once we knew that the Memorial Trophy was being put-up, it brought that feeling back," he said.
Ultimately there were only about eight who had had Premier rugby experience before the start of the season, and coach Richard Kinnear stayed loyal to those who got to the final in resisting to bring back players who'd otherwise been adrift on Super Rugby duty throughout the season.
Aotea, with at least 200 fans in the grandstand from Dannevirke, and even further afield, dominated possession and territory in the first half, and still matched Havelock North in many respects in the second.
But they struggled to control the ball, and Havelock North relished some gift possession, running in most of its tries from a long way out, deep in their own territory, and with particular finesse with the ball in hand and seeing each sortie to completion.
The veteran refereeing and touch judge crew that controlled the Senior 3 final, from left Warren Willacy, Bruce Dockary and Barry Van Heerden. Photo / Doug Laing
Typical were the two tries each to former Magpie and Highlanders player Ryan Tongia, from fullback and left wing Epeli Tanadroga.
Kinnear, who, recognising Aotea's comeback of the previous Saturday told the players at halftime not to get "too far ahead of yourselves", said afterwards: "Execution is what got us there. It was a good team effort."
Aotea coach Carl Withey said he'd told his players at halftime to be proud they'd achieved everything they had aimed for, in getting to the final and gaining promotion, and to enjoy the game.
Smiling as if they'd won, he said the match had been a good experience for the team, it had represented its community and smaller clubs well, and he hoped it was enough to start the building of a Premier rugby entity for next season.
Former Magpies, Chiefs Super Rugby and Tonga World Cup team prop Sona Taumalolo, at the age of 39, was an unlikely star of the earlier Senior 3 final, starting as blindside flanker and scoring two tries in Clive's 29-18 win over Taradale to claim the Ron Parker Memorial Cup.
But he was one of the younger players in the team, which had an average age of 41.1 years, according to captain Ray Karauria, who confirmed someone had done the arithmetic.
They were among about12 team members who had played first class rugby over the years, mainly for the Magpies, including prop and former Maori All Black Orcades Crawford, who played 100 matches for the Magpies from 1988 to 2000.
Clive captain Ray Karauria salutes the fans after the team, average age over 40 years, won the Senior 3 title.
Photo / Doug Laing
The Clive "thirds", making it 2 out of 2 for the club in championships finals, after the riversiders won the women's title early in the season, were deriving some payback – the 4-tries-to-3 win avenging the only loss of the season, to Taradale in the first-round final.
It made it count early, with two tries and two penalties to lead 16-3 at halftime, in a match which was also special for the experience among the officialdom – referee Bruce Dockary, who has whistled well mover 150 Premier games over the last 20 years, and touch judges Barry Van Heerden, a referee for 45 years since a debut in Durban, South Africa, and Warren Willacy, now aged 73.
Hardly down in defeat, the Taradale Senior Thirds after being beaten by Clive in their final. Photo / Laing
Results of Hawke's Bay club rugby finals at McLean Park, Napier, on the night of July 16, 2021:
Senior 1 (Hepa Paewai Memorial Trophy): Havelock North 44 (Ryan Tongia 2, Epelia Tanadroga 2, James Tule, Phillip McRoberts, Marnus Kruger, Ben Taylor tries; Adam Blake 2 cons) Aotea 12 (Gene Ropoama, Jacob Stephenson tries; Stephenson con). Halftime: 29-0.
Senior 3 (Ron Parker Memorial Cup): Clive 29 (Sona Taumalolo 2, Simon Christie, Ben Trew tries; Anthony Porima 3pen) Taradale 18 (Jacob Baker, Mane Pahi, Nevada Hemopo tries; Hone Stok pen). Halftime: 16-3.
The draw for the second day (July 17) is: 11.20am, Division 2, MAC v Waipawa Country United; 1pm, Colts, Central v Taradale; 3pm, Premier (Maddison Trophy), Hastings Rugby and Sports v Taradale.