Win gives Hawke's Bay a rare treat

National second division champions Hawkes Bay celebrated a rare match against a first division side with a 37-34 win against Wellington in Napier yesterday.

The two had not met at first-class level since 1995, and the Bay had not beaten Wellington since March 1993, when they played a warm-up game before the Bay's last season in the first division.

Wellington scored five tries to Hawkes Bay's four, but the goal-kicking of first five-eighth Marius Kriel made the difference for the home side .

Hawkes Bay looked to have been robbed of their glory in front of a small home crowd when David Holwell kicked a penalty three minutes from the end to make it 34-30 to Wellington.

But a minute later, the home side captured the only tighthead of the game. Forwards and backs combined to move the ball to within 10m of Wellington's line, where they formed a maul, pulled the ball back and fed centre Sam Leung Wai, who scored near the posts.



Kriel made it six from six kicks with his conversion.

Hawkes Bay's stars were the loose trio of No 8 Exham Wichman and flankers David Gower and Michael Johnson. They each scored tries, tackled like demons and defended relentlessly in a game in which neither backline had much freedom

Hawkes Bay led 20-10 at halftime.

- NZPA