Rugby: Upset victory keeps Mangonui in with a chance

Mangonui had a win against a champion team.

A Filipo Nakosi try with time almost up on the clock saw Mangonui grab a thrilling 33-32 win over defending champions Bay of Islands to keep their chances alive of lifting this year's Harding Shield.

The try came from a scrum set deep in their own half with just two minutes remaining on the clock in the clash at Kaikohe's Lindvart Park.

Coach Paul Scutt said he was proud of the way the team played and refused to take any credit for the game's decisive try.

"It is a player-driven programme up here and the senior players came up with that move and they've been practising it for 10 weeks and it paid dividends for the team," he said.

Mangonui made the best of the early running and capitalised on their chances by scoring a couple of backline tries but Bay of Islands scored one of their own to trail 14-7 at the break.

"The Bay of Islands showed their championship pedigree and really came back at us in the second half and then we lost Bronson Murray for 10 minutes and that really changed the game around," Scutt said.

Murray took matters into his own hands dealing out retribution to a Bay of Islands player who was blatantly offside but the referee didn't agree with his disciplinary action and handed him a yellow card.

The Bay side took the opportunity offered. They roared back into contention and began to dominate, taking the lead until Mangonui finally struck back in the 78th minute. Whiria Meltzer made the initial line-break from the scrum before linking up with the forwards to recycle the ball. Centre Matt Tuatagaloa then made good ground before Nakosi showed off his side-stepping talent by cutting back through traffic to dot down under the posts.

Joshua Clark added the conversion to claim the narrowest of victories.

"It was unbelievable for Mangonui rugby to have a win like that against a champion team. Our standard was low when we got started this season but we've really worked hard to get to where we are, " Scutt said.

Taniwha recruit Winston Stanley dotted down to make an immediate impact in his debut for Mangonui with Whiria Meltzer, Jeremy White, and Nakosi (2) the other tryscorers.

Scutt said the final round of the competition at Toll Stadium on June 28 in Whangarei should attract a good crowd, given three teams can still win the Harding Shield.

The Bay of Islands can no longer win the title but they can still spoil Whangarei's party - after the hosts for the final round beat Northern Wairoa-Rodney 38-30 in the early match at Kaikohe.

The match was won in the forwards. Whangarei knew the danger lurking in the Northern Wairoa-Rodney backline and made sure they were starved of possession. NW-Rodney hung in there and finally took the lead with 10 minutes to go but were unable to hold onto it.

NW-Rodney coach Brad Te Haara said the Whangarei team deserved praise for their efforts but that the trophy was still not beyond his team.

"If Bay of Islands can beat Whangarei as they have over the last two years and deny them a bonus point, and we beat Mangonui with a bonus point then we can still take the shield," he said.

NW-Rodney scored four tries to Whangarei's three but Tyler Lansdowne's place kicking proved to be the difference between the two teams. Whangarei lead the competition with nine points, Mangonui are two points behind and NW-Rodney have six.