NPEC head coach Hosea Gear. File picture
Saturday was a huge day for Hosea Gear's Ngati Porou East Coast Kaupoi in Sky Blue.
They beat the might of Red and White, West Coast, 29-27 at Enterprise Cars Whakarua Park, Ruatoria.
In doing so, they retained the Bill Osborne Taonga and won the Arthur Wickes Memorial Trophy for competition between the East Coast and West Coast.
It was the first defence of the Bill Osborne Taonga by NPEC head coach Gear's crew.
This was the 31st instalment of “The Coasties versus The Coasters” since the Southerners' 36-0 triumph at Greymouth in Game 1 on May 17, 1976.
West Coast have won 16 games in what is a clash notable for its earthy, feisty nature; the Kaupoi have now won 15. Saturday's victory was East Coast's first in the fixture since the 23-16 result at Ruatoria on August 25, 2012.
That was also the last time NPEC held aloft the Arthur Wickes Memorial Trophy. It was first presented on August 17, 1996, to the mainlanders at Ruatoria after their 24-10 win.
Having beaten Civil Project Solutions Poverty Bay Weka 12-10 to claim the Anaru “Skip” Paenga Memorial Shield in Gisborne the previous Saturday, this third win has seen the Sky Blues elevated two spots to sixth place with a maximum five competition points for 14 in total.
West Coast were courageous at Ruatoria and took bonus points for scoring four tries and finishing within seven points of NPEC.
Gear has worked hard in his three seasons at the helm of Sky Blue rugby: 2022 has been their best year in a decade. Yet while the significance of their retaining the Bill Osborne Taonga — the Ranfurly Shield of the Heartland Championship — cannot be overstated, Gear's comments about the win against West Coast were low-key.
“We're not thrilled, but a win's a win and we'll take it,” he said.
NPEC captain and halfback Sam Parkes's comments also indicate that his team's expectations of themselves have risen with their fortunes.
“West Coast came out strongly; we couldn't get our hands on the ball,” he said.
“We had maybe 20 percent possession in what was — for us — a poor first half.
“After a halftime tune-up in the shed, we got into our game plan, then strung a few phases and moves together.”
West Coast were 20-17 up at the break, on a cool day with a north-easterly breeze prevailing and 500-plus in attendance.
In the absence of regular head coach David Perrin for personal reasons, the assistant coach, Irishman Ian Robinson, shared his duties with reserve hooker and former captain Troy Tauwhare.
Robinson said: “We put ourselves in a winning position in the first half, but East Coast held on to the ball better than we did in the second and they also managed the game well, end to end.”
“It was a game of two halves in that we started well but didn't take our opportunities, while East Coast scored some great team tries,” West Coast skipper and second five-eighth Elliot Smith said.
“After halftime they came out and looked a completely different team. Their defence close to the ruck was great. We couldn't break the line. I felt in the second half they were the hungrier team.”
The game was high drama from the outset, with Sky Blues first-five Carlos Kemp's first shot at penalty goal hitting the right post..
Both West Coast flankers — fetcher Josh Tomlinson and No.6 Nathan Evans — carried the ball powerfully but the day's first try was a triumph of guile at an attacking lineout in the 13th minute.
Hooker Trent Lawn threw the ball to lock Cameron Rutherford at the front of the lineout, got the ball back and scored in the right corner.
First-five Ben Wyness did not convert Lawn's try but landed the first penalty goal of the match from centre field 25m out in the 23rd minute.
The visitors led 8-0 until the 26th minute when the wild and woolly style of the Kaupoi in broken play brought about the Southerners' undoing.
Rutherford got a tough pass at halfway on the grandstand side of Whakarua Park. In the wild scramble that followed, his opposite Hoani Te Moana toed the loose ball back to NPEC No.8 Morgan Poi, who threw a two-handed blind pass to his right.
Seven sets of hands later, second-five Joe Wadman scored five metres wide of the posts.
Sky Blues first-five Carlos Kemp converted Wadman's try and the Mainlanders led 8-7.
Realising the danger posed by the home team with their tails up, West Coast struck back immediately.
From an attacking lineout they went right, then left twice before Wyness broke the Sky Blues' defence out wide and Smith weaved in, out and away to free up fullback Sean McLure to score seven metres off the right touch 28 minutes in.
Wyness converted McLure's try for 15-7 and at the half-hour mark in the match, Evans put his foot down — twice — to score.
Kemp restarted play, Wyness made the catch, Evans steamed from his own 22 as far as halfway, found Tomlinson on the inside, he found veteran Tauwhare on his left, who finally got the ball wide to Evans who ran 22m to score.
The visitors led 20-7 but the Kaupoi would have the last word before the break.
NPEC fullback Kris Palmer scored with a magnificent solo effort after West Coast right wing Kingsley Henry, playing under advantage, put boot to ball five metres off his own goal-line.
Palmer gathered the ball on the bounce, stepped right to beat Henry, went left to beat first McLure and then Wyness to score 13m from the left corner.
It was a rude blow to West Coast, who had been well worth their lead.
Kemp did not convert the Palmer try, nor the last try of the first half to left wing Fabyan Kahaki.
From a scrum set 10m from halfway centreground, the Sky Blues went right, then left, and Kahaki dotted down seven metres in from the left sideline.
West Coast were now only 20-17 ahead at halftime and the Kaupoi had all but bolted.
They are not a side any team can afford to give a sniff at victory, and the Sky Blues now had been given more than a whiff.
The first try of the second half came from an attacking lineout 8m from the West Coast goal-line.
The Sky Blues first went left, Parkes swung the ball back right to Poi, who unselfishly gave the last pass to Trojan rake Joe Royal to score in the corner.
His was a popular try, which Kemp could not convert, but gave the hosts their first lead of the game — 22-20.
In the 53rd minute, after NPEC had fought hard down the left of the ground (thanks to a great run from lock Hoani Te Moana), Parkes found scrum-anchor Perrin Manuel with a superlative blind back-flick pass apparently from a team call.
Manuel scored 8m in from the right touch.
Kemp converted for 29-20.
In the 63rd minute, hard-working lock Jasyn van Vliet scored a well-deserved try for the Red and Whites, converted by left-wing Logan Ross.
In the dying seconds, West Coast had a chance to with a penalty kick but the attempt was wide, much to the Kaupoi fans' and players' relief.
Hawke's Bay referee Stu Catley put in an excellent showing in a thoroughly entertaining affair.
East Coast's win leapfrogged them to seventh place on the table on 14 points — points differential separating them from sixth-placed Mid Canterbury.
The Coast are away to King Country this Saturday.