Bay of Plenty 38 North Harbour 31
KEY POINTS:
Bay of Plenty kept their unbeaten record intact by beating North Harbour 38-31 in an Air NZ Cup rugby match at Mt Maunganui today.
The result meant Bay of Plenty remained second in the standings on 14 points, one behind leaders Wellington.
They were powered by an effervescent display from loose forwards Solomon King and Colin Bourke, who grabbed two tries apiece, with international sevens speedster Zar Lawrence getting the other in their bonus-point win.
First five-eighth Mike Delany was in fine form with his boot, kicking a penalty and five conversions.
Winless North Harbour remain rooted at the bottom of the table but picked up two bonus points by scoring four tries and finishing within seven points of their opponents.
With their forwards outplaying North Harbour, Bay of Plenty enjoyed a wealth of possession and dominated territorially.
But they failed to close out many of their moves sparked by halfback Jamie Nutbrown and Delany, instead receiving a lesson on how to survive on scraps by North Harbour.
All of North Harbour's tries had an opportunistic flavour, coming against the flow of play.
Halfback Chris Smylie finished off a counter attack by wing Viliame Waqaseduadua in the first half.
North Harbour trailed 7-14 at halftime but Bay of Plenty doubled their score when Lawrence scored a controversial try after knocking on the ball before dotting it down, followed by Bourke's first try, within 12 minutes of the resumption.
North Harbour's substitute wing Josh York then scored a runaway try after first five-eighth and skipper Jimmy Gopperth initiated a turnover.
This was quickly followed by Richard Mayhew, who scored his try after charging down a 5m scrum clearance by Nutbrown.
Delany stretched Bay of Plenty's lead out to 10 points with a penalty but North Harbour responded with the try of the match by Waqaseduadua.
The fleet-footed winger beat four tacklers on a jinking run in the 73rd minute to close the gap to three points.
But Bay of Plenty held their nerve.
Lawrence showed a clean pair of heels on a counter-attack down the middle and he offloaded for Bourke to score his second try of the match.
Bay of Plenty 38 (Solomon King 2, Colin Bourke 2, Zar Lawrence, tries; Mike Delany pen, 5 con) North Harbour 31 (Chris Smylie, Josh York, Richard Mayhew, Viliame Waqaseduadua tries; Jimmy Gopperth pen, 4 con). Halftime: 14-7.
- NZPA
