Whanganui Boxon's Woody Martin takes the ball up against the Hawera Hawks defenders at City College on Saturday.
Whanganui Boxon's Woody Martin takes the ball up against the Hawera Hawks defenders at City College on Saturday.
Whanganui Boxon knocked the Hawera Hawks out of the TRL Paddock to Plate Butchery Premiership with an emphatic 36-18 semifinal victory at the City College grounds on Saturday.
Boxon outscored the Hawks seven tries to three to set up a grand final showdown with the Bell Block-Marist Dragons, who beat the Western Suburbs Tigers 42-22 in the other playoff.
Boxon and the Dragons will square off at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth this Saturday, as the originally planned grand final venue of Yarrow Stadium has been condemned and vacated.
Boxon coach Haze Rewiti had plenty to be pleased about from his team's performance.
"Our discipline was the best we've had all year, we were good getting out of our own end of the field and obviously the home crowd helped," he said.
"The boys love it at home, this is what it's about, playing in front of your family and they always turn up for us.
"Friends and family, please get over to New Plymouth."
The Hawks looked dangerous very early on when hooker Greegan Thompson-Dockery made a half break and offloaded to fullback Stevie-Ray Gray, who completed the break through of Boxon's defensive line.
When Gray was brought down, Boxon gave away a penalty in their scramble and Hawks winger Shae Kahui slotted the goal to put his side up 2-0.
They were they only points the Hawks scored in the first half and Boxon back rower Tautahi Rawiri soon levelled the scores by kicking a goal following a penalty for a high shot.
Boxon centre Jordan Davis scored the first try of the game, diving through defenders at close range to score his first of his double in an outstanding performance.
The points piled up for Boxon from that point on, Rawiri slotted another penalty before centre Shane Henry scored a try and then Davis was in again before the end of the first half.
The Hawks struggled to secure their ball and barely had an opportunity to attack throughout the half, with a lack of discipline not helping their cause.
Back rower Jarrad Kumeroa flew out of the gates with a spirited run to start the second half to set a platform for the visitors, but moments later it was undone by a forward pass from dummy half.
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The Hawks tried hard to build some momentum and later made some space for their winger Kurt Kahui, who took off on the outside, only to be rundown by his Boxon opposite Leonard Matapuku.
That seemed to somewhat break the spirit of the Hawks and soon Matapuku was involved again when he smashed Gray, forcing him to spill the ball after a Boxon bomb on the last tackle.
Boxon halfback Bernard Matthews was the benefactor, putting in work on the kick-chase to collect the loose ball and running away to score.
"Our forward pack stood out today, but our backs complimented them really well," Reweti said.
"Bernard controlled the game really well, he stepped up today and took the game by the balls, big ups to him."
The next to score for Boxon was winger Matt Rangi-Everleigh who was on the end of a through-the-hands effort.
Then came a contender for try of the game.
Hooker Steven Aue passed the ball to first receiver Corey-Lee Robertson, who ran around the first up defender, palmed off the next and carried the last one over the try line with him to score.
At 30-2 it looked like the semi-final was going to be an absolute hiding, but the Hawks stayed hungry and attempted to start a comeback when centre Fomai Vaipulu scored.
That attempt was thwarted by the mighty hand of Boxon's barnstorming back rower Ritchie Graham, who palmed off defenders left, right and centre, then offloaded to Aue who scored under the sticks.
With little time remaining, Boxon let in two tries, scored by Isaiah Graham-Hooper and Phil Tayor, which was the only sore point for Reweti when the siren sounded at 36-18.
"We can't take our foot off the throat, the way to get teams out of finals is by completing sets after scoring and I think we did that pretty poorly today.
"You can't let a team creep back into the game because it boosts their confidence, in saying that, to win a semi is a really good feeling, we'll enjoy it, but we've still got one big game to go."
