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Luke Braid in action for Bay of Plenty - Source: Photosport
Keep up to date as Hawke's Bay host Bay of Plenty in the ITM
Cup from Naiper.
FULLTIME: Hawke's Bay 42 Bay of Plenty 41 - TRY!
What drama! Three minutes into injury time and Hawke's Bay pull out
a miracle that you wouldn't read about. Ihaia West makes the
scorching break and runs 50 metres to score under the posts.
Unbelievable! West converts and BOP look shell-shocked and so they
should be.
72mins: Hawke's Bay 35 Bay of Plenty 41 -
Just after
Masaga pulls off a massive shot on Horrell, West is pinged for
deliberately knocking on the ball when Cane could have been in
under the posts. Chris Noakes is now on the field and he extends
the lead to six points.
59mins: Hawke's Bay 35 Bay of Plenty 38 - TRY! From a somewhat innocent looking defensive West bomb, the ball bounces up for Andrew Horrell to streak away over 60 metres. Kaka is on hand (who else?) and he is over for a hat-trick. West can't convert but we have a ball game folks!
53mins: Hawke's Bay 30 Bay of Plenty 38 - TRY!
That is the fourth try of the half& Bay of Plenty appear to
have pulled off a tighthead from a five metre scrum on their own
line but the ball pops out and ever aware flanker Tevita Fomai
pounces to dive on the ball and score. West converts.
48mins: Hawke's Bay 23 Bay of Plenty 38 - TRY! And
the freakish play continues. This time Kendrick Lynn throws a SBW
special as he is going to ground to put a flying Lance MacDonald
under the posts. McCashin converts and now Bay of Plenty have
outscored the home side 14-5 with 14 men!
45mins: Hawke's Bay 23 Bay of Plenty 31 - TRY! The
tit-for-tac nature of this contest continues. Marvin Karawana does
brilliant work to off-load to Kaka near the sideline and the winger
bursts through to score his second. Daniel Waenga can't
convert.
42mins: Hawke's Bay 18 Bay of Plenty 31 - Ihaia West kicks off and immediately Lelia Masaga is set free to score a brilliant individual try! Kendrick Lynn passes a nifty inside ball and Masaga beats at least three defenders with his sizzling side-step to score under the posts. McCashin converts and having 14 men isn't an issue for the Steamers at the moment.
HALFTIME: Hawke's Bay 18 Bay of Plenty 24 - Penalty try! From an attacking lineout, Hawke's Bay roll forward and unstoppable rolling maul and Hike Elliot appears to be held up. But referee Fraser rules that Tanerau Latimer has illegally stopped the hooker from putting the ball down. Not only do the visitors concede seven but Latimer will spend the next 10 minutes in the bin as well. Controversial!
35mins: Hawke's Bay 11 Bay of Plenty 24 - Bang,
bang! Sam Cane is having a whale of a game here. He bursts down the
blindside, fends off two defenders and then off-loads inside for
winger Maru Henry to run under the posts. McCashin converts and the
Steamers are well on top.
32mins: Hawke's Bay 11 Bay of Plenty 17 - TRY! Bay
of Plenty pounce from a loose lineout and make over 60 metres in no
time at all. Great patience in attack is shown by the visitors
before quick ball sees Nick McCashin stroll through a gaping hole.
McCashin coverts his own try.
25mins: Hawke's Bay 11 Bay of Plenty 10 - TRY!
And what an individual try from Gilles Kaka! It might be the try of
the season in fact. He broke free from inside his own half and then
with the fullback to beat, chipped ahead. For all money the ball
appeared to be going out, but the flying winger showed football
skills that Lionel Messi would be proud of to keep it in play and
tap ahead to score. Wow! Waenga can't convert.
15mins: Hawke's Bay 6 Bay of Plenty 10 - Nick
McCashin replies immediately following great work from Cane at the
breakdown. Opposite Karl Lowe was the one pinged as Cane channelled
in on the free ball.
12mins: Hawke's Bay 6 Bay of Plenty 7 - The home
side strike right back through a second Daniel Waenga penalty. The
Hawke's Bay forward pack showed good aggression at the breakdown
and forced the penalty turnover.
10mins: Hawke's Bay 3 Bay of Plenty 7 - TRY! All
Black Sam Cane makes an impact immediately upon his return. The
openside flanker was on hand to set Lelia Masaga away from the
initial Hawke's Bay mistake and then finished it off from close
range. Nick McCashin converts.
5mins: Hawke's Bay 3 Bay of Plenty 0 - Daniel
Waenga steps up and nails a penalty from 50 metres out. It's great
strike and shows conditions are nigh on perfect. The infringement
was for the BOP collapsing over the ruck.
1min: Hawke's Bay 0 Bay of Plenty 0 -
Referee Mike Fraser begins proceedings on a calm evening in Napier.
The home side is well aware that a loss here tonight will likely
mean relegation so expect a fired up start from the Magpies.
Pre-Match
Hawke's Bay and Bay of Plenty come into tonight's Premiership clash in contrasting form and picking a winner is anyone's guess.
The Magpies were smashed 35-7 by Southland on Sunday while the Steamers rolled Auckland a week ago by 37-16.
Hawke's Bay remain battered: Trent Boswell-Wakefield, who left the field at Invercargill with knee problems, was ruled out early and Zac Guildford is still unavailable.
Bay of Plenty will be pleased to have Sam Cane back from the All Blacks, bolstering an already powerful loose trio, while Chris Noakes is on the bench following a long injury lay-off.
Maru Henry replaces the injured Jack Wilson on the wing, while Mafi Kefu has been named on the bench despite breaking a bone in his wrist last week.
Hawke's Bay: 1. Adrian Barone, 2. Hika Elliot, 3. Peter Borlase, 4. Ross Kennedy, 5. Johan Schoonbee, 6. Tevita Fomai, 7. Karl Lowe, 8. Mike Coman (capt), 9. Chris Eaton, 10. Daniel Waenga, 11. Penikolo Latu, 12. Tua Saseve, 13. Marvin Karawana, 14. Gillies Kaka, 15. Andrew Horrell.
Reserves: 16. Ash Dixon, 17. Brendon Edmonds, 18. Tom Parsons, 19. Kieran Coll, 20. Isaac Paewai, 21. Ihaia West, 22. Nick McLennan.
Bay of Plenty: 1. Greg Pleasants-Tate, 2. Daniel Perrin, 3. Josh Hohneck, 4. Culum Retallick, 5. Leon Power, 6. Tanerau Latimer (capt), 7. Sam Cane, 8. Luke Braid, 9. Josh Hall, 10. Nick McCashin, 11. Maru Henry, 12. Phil Burleigh, 13. Kendrick Lynn, 14. Lelia Masaga, 15. Lance MacDonald.
Reserves: 16. John Pareanga, 17. Tristan Moran, 18. Dan Goodwin, 19. Carl Axtens, 20. Lewis Hancock, 21. Chris Noakes, 22. Mafi Kefu.
Referee: Mike Fraser