McCully treble in a thriller

A hat-trick of tries by left winger Daniel McCully gave Mid Western a 25-20 victory over Mid Northern in a dramatic contest at Maungakaramea on Saturday.
McCully was mobbed by supporters after the final whistle and  said it was his biggest haul of tries since playing in the under-10s.
"I started the season playing in the centres but now I've pushed out to the wing and I'm enjoying it there ... especially after scoring a few tries," he said.
Mid Western skipper Matt Clutterbuck said McCully could expect to play more on the wing in the future.
"I think Daniel has found his true calling, he was outstanding out there on the wing today," he said.
Clutterbuck watched the thrilling finale to the game unfold from the sideline after aggravating an old shoulder injury and was relieved Mid Western were able to steal another narrow win - against the run of play in the second half.
"They were a big side and had some key players with plenty of experience and they really picked it up in the second half, but our boys dug deep and hung in there and got a vital tighthead at the end and that was just enough for a nervous win," he said.
After a tense error-ridden first spell, with neither side really settling into their work, Mid Western went to the break 13-7 ahead. Mid Northern manufactured few scoring chances but late in the spell after a Lachie Munro penalty and McCully's first try, they spurned a couple of kickable penalties trying to cross the chalk.
After one such kick to the corner, Mid Northern sought to overcome a rare lineout error with a big scrum. Going backward quickly, Mid Western No 8 Regan Edwards grabbed the ball out of the scrum but it was stolen off him by Mid Northern standout Busta Tahere, who scored in the corner. David Holwell converted to give the visitors a lift going into the break, despite a late injury time penalty to Munro.
Mid Northern began the second spell as they finished the first and Mid Western were called on to defend almost from the outset. Holwell added another penalty and then winger TJ Williams was held out by a desperate tackle. The visitors kept hammering away at the line but once again handling errors let them down.
Mid Western were forced to kick for territory - something they did  successfully with Munro often finding open space with long raking kicks - and when they  won possession they were limited to counter attacks.
From one such breakout midway through the spell, Saxon Samuels made good ground chipping over the defence, forcing Mid Northern cover to take the ball into touch inside their 22m. The locals put together several phases up front but made no ground. But when they went wide they once again found numbers on Mid Northern's right flank for McCully to score his double.
The conversion slid wide but with an 18-10 lead Mid Western were in the box seat. They failed to secure the restart, however, and Mid Northern were back in the game a few phases later. Back in the side after injury, Derek Carpenter shrugged off his earlier rustiness by spinning out of a tackle and scoring under the posts to set up a thrilling finish.
 Holwell kicked Mid Northern into the lead for the first time with less than 10 to go with a 40 metre penalty,
but  they let their foot off the pedal. Mid Western were good enough to once again expose their achilles heel in the form of manufacturing another overlap on McCully's wing for the winger's hat-trick.
With a few minutes  to go Mid Northern were  not beaten. Tahere again led the fightback with a good run up the centre, leaving Mid Western to defend their line till the end.
After several phases a lunge for the line was held up with just seconds left in the match and then Mid Western surprised the visitors   - with a tighthead to end the match.