Thrilling final day of rugby action

Te Puke scored a brilliant late try to get past Tauranga West 26-21 and win the Tai Mitchell final at Blake Park on Sunday.

It took a piece of individual brilliance from Fijian winger Waisake Salabiau to clinch the game after West fought back from 19-7 down at halftime to lead 21-19 with minutes left to play.

Waisake is spending the year in Te Puke as part of the Te Puke Intermediate Rugby Academy along with player of the tournament Nacani Batidravu.

West's outstanding flanker James Haua opened the scoring but tries to Sam Dowling, Rico Turnbull and Waisake, plus extras from the boot of Wyndham Patuawa, gave Te Puke a good lead at the break.

But with the wind behind them in the second half, West dominated territory and scored two fine tries through Neybron Kiriona and Jamie Eskrick. Excellent goalkicking from Reef Newdick put them in front until that last dazzling try.

Te Puke coach Phil O'Reilly was satisfied with how his team won the tournament after four days of tough rugby.

"Yesterday we were not so proud of our performance (semifinal win over Opotiki) but we stuck to our structure, to our attacking systems and tried to be a threat on the outside.

"Everyone worked hard. It didn't matter if they had a 1 or 15 on their back, they cleaned the rucks and thought about their mates, so yeah, I was really proud of them."

Disappointed West coach Atirau Ohia knew Te Puke were fitter than his team so they used their subs early.

"We got the subs on there at each quarter and we got so close. One call here and there and it could have gone our way," he said.

"But Te Puke are getting out of what they are putting in with their academy and bringing out these Fijian boys. They are AIMS Games champions and now Tai Mitchell champions so it is good for us to play against special players.

"We played good rugby that develops good rugby players and we are very proud of them."

Seamus Collins from the tournament organising committee said the tournament ran well despite the difficult weather conditions.

"We are very happy that the teams are able to compete at their own level. Bar one inflated score they have been pretty ding-dong competitive games," he said.

"The support of this age group of rugby throughout the Bay is fantastic. The support here has been top draw from all the travelling supporters and there has been no negative incidents.

"The games have been played in the most fantastic spirit. It has been amazing."