Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Watch: Try of the season banked in Chiefs derby as backs and forwards combine for outrageous score

Emoni Narawa. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

The All Blacks may be long gone from New Zealand’s provincial competition but that doesn’t mean the excitement has left the Mitre 10 Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

Afternoon matches have long been the norm in the 54-year competition and when the weather plays ball, the rugby is free-flowing.

While the Ranfurly Shield match between Hawke’s Bay and Wellington will have taken precedence for many on Sunday afternoon, it was the derby between Waikato and Bay of Plenty played in Hamilton that produced the better contest.

Video Spacer

All Black post-match press conference – Bledisloe Four

Video Spacer

All Black post-match press conference – Bledisloe Four

Such is the competitiveness of the Premiership that both sides entered the match with the potential to play in the semi-finals in two weeks’ time – but neither was safe from relegation either.

Home side Waikato were the short favourites, however – though that had little impact on how the Steamers performed in the opening minutes of the match.

In fact, it took just five minutes for Bay of Plenty to score the first try of the game.

It started inside their own 22, with Waikato testing the away side’s early-game defence. Following a quick turnover, Steamers outside back Emoni Narawa sent the ball out to lock Sam Dickson who was perched on the wing, and the second-rower proceeded to show off his wide range of skills.

The All Blacks Sevens representative galloped down the sideline then dropped the ball onto his right boot for a perfectly weighted chip kick over the top of the approaching defender. Dickson regathered the kick and offloaded to Narawa, who had stayed in support.

ADVERTISEMENT

With just two remaining Mooloo defenders to beat, Narawa threaded his arm between the two tacklers and popped the ball up to centre Dan Hollinshead who was able to meander in untouched between the uprights.

The Steamers proceeded to build a 19-3 lead after 26 minutes, upsetting the odds, but by halftime the home side had fought back and found themselves just a single point behind.

Following the break, Waikato continued their fight back and the shellshocked Steamers side fell behind 30-19.

It was the fast-starting Bay of Plenty who ultimately had the final say, scoring two late tries – including one after the final hooter.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

T
Tom 54 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.


I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.


We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.


I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.

10 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'England are not far off. But the margin is there. It’s palpable.' Mick Cleary: 'England are not far off. But the margin is there. It’s palpable.'
Search