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Hawke's Bay
2024
Scores
Tables
Jun 24
Jul 24
Aug 24
Sep 24
Oct 24
BOP vs HBY
NPC
Tauranga Domain, Tauranga
Bay of Plenty
vs
Hawke's Bay
19
FT
17
Action
Lineups
All
Facts Only
All
Full-Time: 19 - 17
It's the end of the 2024 season for the Hawke's Bay Magpies today, with the Bay of Plenty Steamers winning the Battle of the Bays this year as they advance to the semifinals next weekend. With two matches still to go it's unclear yet which semifinal they will be part of, so stay tuned for more action later today and tomorrow afternoon!
Both sides spread the ball around well through the hands to make use of the full width of the pitch, with some good offloading at times managing to keep the ball alive. At other times they gifted opposition with scrum ball. There were some good chases on the chip kicks as well, with Bay of Plenty in particular putting huge pressure on the Magpies under the high ball to force a couple of errors.
This game should really have been wrapped up much earlier with how many opportunities the home side had early on, but some brutal defence from the Hawke's Bay Magpies kept them in the game until the very end. They managed to unravel quite a few of the home side's chances early on, forcing turnover ball as they were quick to get to breakdowns. They also managed to repel some attacking efforts through some absolutely monster tackles in the middle of the park that forced the home side backwards with every carry, but at times their discipline let them down. Both the home side's tries in the second half came off the back of rolling mauls that they were only able to set because of penalties against the visitors, with the first of those coming with a yellow card to Joel Hintz as well.
As for the lineouts, they were messy from both sides throughout. Skew feeds, knocks, contact in the air, balls going straight over the top, you name it. It wasn't every lineout that was wasted though, with both sides scoring tries off the set piece. For Hawke's Bay, Tyrone Thompson scored in the right corner after breaking away with a strong leg drive off the base of the maul while Devery went over at the base late in the spell. The home side took a penalty try off a collapsed maul on the left wing, and drove their match-winning try over from the base of another through Taine Kolose right at the death.
The scrums were fairly even for the most part in the first hour or so of the match, but the home side suddenly got onto the front foot at the set piece late in the game. They had Hawke's Bay scrambling backwards, and won a couple of penalties as they were able to force them down and around under the pressure. When the visitors where able to secure the scrum ball they found themselves having to do so on the backfoot, forcing them into kicking the ball away on a couple of occasions, the last of which resulted in the winning try as Bay of Plenty were able to run it back at the visitors and put them under pressure on defence.
The Steamers were forced to play comeback rugby in the second half, and were up against a massive defensive effort as they did. Hawke's Bay were strong in the tackles, forcing the home side onto the back foot and behind the gainline on a couple of occasions through some big hits, and looked dangerous at the breakdowns as well as they got over the ball to force turnovers right as Bay of Plenty were starting to build momentum through phase play.
Bay of Plenty spent over 4 minutes inside the Magpies 22 in that first half, but they weren't able to protect the ball well enough in the contact zone to give themselves the chance to convert opportunity into points. The visitors were quick to get onto the front foot and down into the right areas of the pitch though, with two tries in the first half despite spending less than a minute in the red zone.
It's sweet revenge for the Bay of Plenty Steamers as they book their spot in the semifinals next weekend! They looked strong throughout the first half, but really didn't use their opportunities to get points on the board. They opened the scoring, but found themselves trailing at the break thanks to two great tries from the Magpies despite the visitors struggling for both possession and territory and having to spend lengthy periods on defence down in their red zone.
80+2'
Short restart from Hawke's Bay, but it's well secured by Ah Kuoi just behind the 10, and the home side can send it back for the clearance kick to secure victory and a spot in the semifinals next weekend!