Hawkes Bay 22
Bay of Plenty 19
Canterbury 28
Counties-Manukau 17
An 80th minute try to rising wing Zac Guildford broke Bay of Plenty hearts last night as Hawkes Bay won their clash in Rotorua.
The result pushed Hawkes Bay into second place, while Bay of Plenty were left outside the top four, as Guildford and his fellow Crusaders' recruit Israel Dagg combined for the last gasp score.
It was a night in which the ball handling skills and decision making of the country's top provincial players had to again be questioned, but at least an erratic game found a stunning conclusion.
Dagg chip kicked the ball over a short line of Bay of Plenty defenders, and Guildford was hardly challenged in scoring the winner.
It had been Colin Bourke and Mike Delany's Bay of Plenty show until then. Bourke pulled off two fabulous try saving tackles, the second on rampaging Hawkes Bay prop Sona Taumalolo, and Delany did likewise on Jason Shoemark. And they combined for Bay of Plenty's lone try, Bourke making the break then scooping a no-look pass for Delany to score.
But Hawkes Bay, who led 9-6 at halftime, always looked threatening through their muscular if limited game. They hurt their own cause when Taumalolo's ridiculous charge on Bay of Plenty fullback Toby Arnold gave Delany another penalty, and the home side a 19-15 lead.
But Bay of Plenty were naive in defending their slim advantage in the final stages, allowing Dagg and Guildford to produce a piece of magic that will likely have a major bearing on how the business end of the season takes shape.
As for the first half - it was mainly a dour mess filled with errors, a strange yellow card decision, and the inability of both sides to finish off their rare attacks.
Hawke's Bay 22 (Zac Guildford try; Mathew Berquist 5 pen, con)
Bay of Plenty 19 (Mike Delany try; Delany 4 pen, con). Halftime: 9-6.
* * *
It was the top of the table versus the bottom but Counties-Manukau were far from disgraced against Canterbury last night.
In fact, at times the cellar-dwellers looked capable of a huge upset as they harried and outshone their more famous opponents at Growers Stadium in Pukekohe.
Most of the stats showed the teams even as Counties-Manukau belied their championship position.
Their speedy backline at times worried Canterbury. An example was their first try 10 minutes after halftime which began almost on their own line and ended with Mark Selwyn crossing. The conversion gave Canterbury a slim 13-10 lead and opened the possibility of the champions being toppled.
It was only two tries and solid kicking from Colin Slade which tipped the balance after Counties-Manukau's Alepini Olosoni scored from a lineout move late in the match.
Ahead by just 10-3 at halftime, the first spell was a scrappy affair with Counties-Manukau upsetting the Canterbury rhythm and looking likely on a couple of occasions.
Canterbury 28 (Sean Maitland 2, Ti'i Paulo tries; Stephen Brett pen, con, Colin Slade 2 pen, con)
Counties Manukau 17 (Mark Selwyn, Alepini Olosoni tries; Tim Nanai-Williams 2 con, Samisoni Fisilau dropped goal). Halftime: 10-3.
