Hawkes Bay 31
Waikato 28
KEY POINTS:
Hawkes Bay will take on Canterbury on Saturday night in their second consecutive national championship semifinal after holding off a furious Waikato comeback in Napier yesterday.
Having built a commanding 28-0 half-time lead, the Magpies had looked to be coasting to a fourth-straight victory over the Mooloos. But in the end they were left thanking an angled 40m Matt Berquist penalty goal and a horrendous piece of officiating for their progression.
Centre Jason Shoemark's second try - on the stroke of half-time - should never have been awarded after Berquist's final pass had travelled at least a couple of metres forward but somehow the officials missed the infraction and Shoemark was able to race away and score under the posts.
With the Magpies dominating the breakdown, crushing Waikato's scrum at will and looking by far the more incisive out wide, the contentious try looked like being no more than a footnote in a one-sided thrashing.
But, sparked into life by All Blacks Richard Kahui, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Mils Muliaina and standout first five-eighths Callum Bruce, Waikato surged back into the game with four second-half converted tries.
In the end it was a game Waikato should have won but, after clawing their way back to within sight of victory, they once again lost their way and the tenacious Magpies booked their semifinal spot with a composed final 10 minutes.
"Obviously it was a game of two halves there and we were just lucky that we came out on top," halfback Danny Lee said after his farewell appearance in front of a packed house in Napier.
"At this time of year a one-point [victory] is all you need to get through so I am happy. We've got another week to go now, hopefully two, so we'll regroup and have another go at Canterbury next week."
For 40 minutes yesterday Hawkes Bay looked like a team with an outside chance of troubling the ruthless Cantabrians in Christchurch.
With Waikato unable or unwilling to commit players to rucks in significant numbers, the Magpies snaffled turnover after turnover. They dominated the physical exchanges and shifted the ball wide fluently where wing Zac Guildford, fullback Israel Dagg and Shoemark cut the flimsy Waikato defence to ribbons. Guildford crossed for the first try after just five minutes and Shoemark finished off a fine break from powerful hooker Hikawira Elliott with a strong fend on Soseni Anesi for the second.
Dagg set up flanker Karl Lowe's try five minutes before the break and Shoemark looked to have killed the game off with his fortunate second right on the stroke of half time.
But Waikato, who had squandered a decent share of possession and territory in the first half, emerged from the tunnel a different side.
They hit back after just four minutes when Jackson Willison scored from a Sivivatu behind-the-back flick pass.
Sivivatu continued the comeback with a neat stutter step close to the line after a sustained build-up and Tom Harding set Magpies' hearts fluttering with Waikato's third within 18 minutes.
Hawkes Bay had been sailing close to the breeze all day in the rucks and referee Vinny Munro's patience finally gave out, sending prop Sona Taumalolo to the bin for an infringement in the build-up to Harding's try.
With 20 minutes still left it seemed Waikato would run right over the Magpies but Berquist finally stopped the rot with a low, scudding 40m penalty that put his side 10 points clear.
Kahui hit straight back with Waikato's fourth but, with the match there for the taking, the Mooloos' minds and limbs failed them. A succession of handling errors gave momentum back to the Magpies and they were good enough to hold on for a three-point victory that mirrored last year's quarter-final against the same opposition.
Waikato may have failed to finish the job but their comeback exposed enough shortcomings in the Magpies to suggest their season will end this Saturday at the hands of a polished Canterbury side.
"The catchcry for us all week was that we wanted another game," Shoemark said. "And we want to make the final this year so we are going to give it a good shot."
