Hawke's Bay 8 Wellington 6
KEY POINTS:
A week is a long time in sport as well as politics.
Just ask Wellington, who touched sublime heights in dismantling Otago 68-7 in the opening round of the Air NZ Cup rugby competition last weekend.
Today, the All Blacks-laden team suffered a torrid reality check at the
hands of a fired up Hawke's Bay, who beat Wellington 8-6 in difficult, wet conditions at McLean Park in Napier.
Hawke's Bay brought much to the table, with a robust forward pack revelling in the rain as they asked serious questions of Wellington's resolve.
The conditions meant both teams committed a plethora of handling errors, with Wellington first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth, in particular, enduring a testing time as he struggled to control some wayward service from his halfback Piri Weepu.
Hawke's Bay coughed up enough ball, too, but for the first 40 minutes they were fully in charge despite going to the halftime break with the scoreboard reading 0-0.
Buoyed by their opening 41-13 win over Southland, Hawke's Bay were well up for today's meeting between two of the Hurricanes Super 14 franchise partners, despite missing experienced halfback Danny Lee, who sat out the match due to a hamstring complaint.
His replacement, Chris Eaton, did well in Lee's absence behind a pack which grafted and grunted for the entire 80 minutes.
They dominated the first spell, enjoying 88 per cent of territory and spent 11min in the opposition's 22 compared to the 1min managed by Wellington.
For all that, the highlight of the first half was a punch delivered by Hawke's Bay prop Clint Newland which knockout out his opposite Neemia Tialata during a lineout in the 14th minute.
Tialata was helped from the field but Newland went unpunished, with the punch going unsighted by referee Bryce Lawrence.
First five-eighth Matthew Berquist missed two penalties which would have given Hawke's Bay something to show for their dominance while the third match official decided television replays were inconclusive when the home team's pack drove prop Faka'naua Taumalolo near the tryline in the 21st minute.
Wellington showed glimpses of their greater experience in the second spell, as rare incursions into the Hawke's Bay 22 netted them two penalties to Gopperth in the 53rd and 57th minutes.
But that advantage was halved just 2min later when replacement Aayden Clarke made no mistake with a penalty from a handy position, although missed with another from a wide angle in the 62nd minute.
Hawke's Bay turned down two shots at goal from penalties near the touchline and were rewarded for their endeavour when No 8 George Naoupu was driven over the tryline from a lineout with 10min remaining.
Hawke's Bay showed no signs of wavering despite increasingly desperate Wellington efforts, which at one stage saw Weepu held up over the tryline.
Wellington had the feed to the resulting 5m scrum but the Hawke's Bay pack put in a great hit to seriously disrupt the ball and the home side managed to clear.
In the end Wellington were reduced to dropped goal attempts by captain Tamati Ellison and Weepu and, as they sailed wide of the mark, Hawke's Bay's captain Michael Johnson was left to state the obvious.
"The boys are ecstatic, that was a great team effort," Johnson said.
"We're bloody happy with that,."
Hawke's Bay 8 (George Naoupu try; Aayden Clarke pen) Wellington 6 (Jimmy Gopperth 2 pen). Halftime: 0-0.
- NZPA