Boxon halfback Bernard Matthews pierces the Tigers defence.
Boxon halfback Bernard Matthews pierces the Tigers defence.
It was hard to believe that it was a top-of-the-table clash.
Whanganui Boxon blew the AEC Western Suburbs Tigers off the park at Cooks Gardens on Saturday in the last round robin game for the TRL Premiership, locking down their spot as top qualifier.
The Tigers pulled the first punchwhen they scored in the early minutes of the game, but it was Boxon that landed the knockout blow, scoring nine tries to win 50-16.
The win sees Boxon finish with a 7-1-2 record, which means they will have a home semifinal when they resume after a week off for the quarterfinals.
Coach Haze Reweti was pleased with the way his team performed around the ruck and particularly with his hooker, Steven Aue.
"We dominated the middle, we worked all week on having a fast ruck and we capitalised on that by pushing up around the ruck with numbers," he said.
"I think a lot of it comes down to our hooker Stevie, his ruck work has been really good, it's something he has worked on this year and it's paying off for him big time."
Before halftime with Boxon hot on attack, Aue looked out the back at his halfback Bernard Matthews, but threw a beautiful no-look flat ball to lock Jordan Davis, who crashed over for a try.
"Jordan Davis played his first game at lock today, his impact and aggression really stirred the boys up," Reweti said.
"I'm always proud of the boys, today I'm very proud."
Boxon second rower Ritchie Graham is dragged down by the Tigers defence at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.
Boxon needed the stir up from Davis after some flimsy early defence allowed the Tiger's lock Samuel Bennett to score easily after a good build-up by fullback Damien Ngatai.
But this was not the Boxon that played out an 18-all draw with the Tigers at a wet Ngamotu Domain in New Plymouth back in April.
Whatever they said to motivate each other worked, and so the floodgates opened.
It started with prop Te Tuhinga Reweti, who crashed over to score at short range.
Next in was barnstorming second rower Ritchie Graham, then came the Davis try and then winger Matt Everleigh-Rangi scored.
The Tigers clawed one back through their centre Kawana Cassidy, who might have been their best on the field, but they went into the sheds at halftime 22-8 down.
After the break, the Tigers forwards were still tired, missing tackles, lacking discipline and their handling was letting them down.
The Boxon forwards were making the difference for their team and punishing the Tigers defence.
The game continued to blow out when Boxon centre Harley Blake scored on the back of two good runs by interchange player Gabriel Williams.
Another interchange player, Boxon's Gordon Karaitiana, was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul when he kicked the ball out from a Tiger at the play-the-ball.
The Tigers capitalised by scoring through their centre, Jaron Schischka, who scampered down the blind-side from dummy half to dot down, but it did not matter.
Boxon winger Leonard Matapuku returned fire with a try and electric fullback Tai Logadraudrau scored an amazing second half hat-trick to really put an exclamation mark on the victory.
The Tigers scored a consolation try through Reagan Coutts, but at 50-16, thanks in part to the brilliant goal kicking of Tautahi Rawiri who struck seven of nine, it was Boxon who were celebrating.
"We thrive off of our crowd, we always get a good crowd and that's the backbone of our club.
"Finishing on the top of the table in the regular season is a small goal we set at the start of the year, but the job is not done yet, we've got a lot of work to go, it's going to be tough, but we're up for it."
