Sub's super try caps Magpies victory

By SHANE HURNDELL

Hawke's Bay 30 Marlbrough 26

Second-string hooker Craig Hawkins won't forget the latest of his three tries for Hawke's Bay's national second-division rugby side in a hurry.

It came right on fulltime and gave the Magpies a 30-26 win against Marlbrough in Blenheim yesterday to keep Hawke's Bay unbeaten and on top of their NPC points table.

The former Welsh B rake, who only gets limited game time with No 1 hooker Mo Schwalger running hot, was quick to point out he owed his teammates the five pointer.

"I missed the target with my first lineout throw so I thought I better make up for it somehow," he said.

While the Magpies deserve praise for displaying the necessary patience during those final few minutes, with the experienced captain-vice captain combination of halfback Stu Forster and No. 8 Eric Van Der Merwe prominent, they should never have been in that situation.

Had fullback Antony Papenfus been able to hang on to the ball when he joined the backline at pace in the first half Hawke's Bay could have been leading the Red Devils 32-9 at halftime instead of 18-9 as was the score registered on the Lansdowne Park scoreboard at the interval.

The Magpies were also lucky Marlbrough coaches Kieran Keane and John Phillips (the former Magpies mentor) opted to start with the backline they did.

Had they started with their midfield combination of Tamaha MacDonald and Sam Gibbons, which finished the game, the hosts may not have been as gutted as the Magpies were relieved at the final whistle.

Bay coach Mark Shaw was justified in giving his team a score of one out of 10 on the report card (it's that headmaster aproach again) and repeating his post-match comments from the previous week's win against East Coast ("there's still a hell of a lot of work to be done") there was certainly some memorable moments in the Bay's effort.

While Hawkins try followed a driving maul the other four were spectacular. Wingers Taf Manyimo and Karl Mudzamba both displayed their tremendous pace as they scored their tries in the third and 31st minutes, respectively.

Manyimo has scored six tries in his past four games for the Bay while Mudzamba has dotted down four times in two outings against the Red Devils.

Centre Sam Leung-Wai and Forster both displayed their class with their respective tries in the 37th and 55th minutes.

Other highlights for the Bay included Schwalger's work rate, lock Daniel Quate's try-saving tackle on Marlborugh's replacement hooker David Evans in the 20th minute and the composure displayed by replacements first five-eighth Ryan Lewis and fullback Tim Manawatu.

Marlborough's two tries scored by winger Evan Belford both came after MacDonald and Gibbons took the field and had the hosts leading 26-23 with eight minutes remaining.

Others to shine for the hosts were tighthead prop Kepi Faivaai and first five-eighth Eddie Hekenui who scored 16 points on debut.

He succeeded with six of his seven attempts at goal and the one he missed bounced off the uprights. Hekenui had spent three hours a day with his goalkicking practise during the week before the match.

Shaw's injury list is just as bad as his report card. Mudzamba will be out of action for at least three weeks with a shoulder injury, Papenfus for the same period with a knee injury and replacement lock Alan Gardiner rolled his ankle.

Prop Jaco Espag managed 40 minutes of game time before aggravating his calf muscle injury but he's confident of playing again at the weekend.

Considering the lengthy injury list and the improvement required before the Bay's next NPC outing, Saturday's bye game against first division Bay of Plenty in Whakatane won't come at a better time.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY