There is nothing for a captain or coach quite like that first win up a grade.
And for Ngatapa’s first-year head coach Heith Hawea and first-year captain, No.8 Dan Law, Friday night’s victory was one they won’t soon forget.
“We’re very happy to have our first win,” Hawea said.
“Our defence was solid, and we finished on the right side of the ledger.”
The word from skipper Law on leading Ngatapa was: “I enjoy doing it, because it’s a challenge and we’ve got a good team. Pirates are also a decent side and hard to pin down. They’ve got guys who can step like a cat on a hot tin roof.”
Pirates captain Bernard Nepe locks with local premier rugby’s tallest player, two-metre-plus Kyah Hollis, and shares that young titan’s admiration for head coach Willie Waitoa, a man dedicated to the Buccaneers’ cause.
“I’d run through a brick wall for Will,” Nepe said of Waitoa, a former second- and back-row forward whose style of play and commitment made his skipper prioritise hard tackling over glitz.
“However many players are at training, he makes sure it’s quality.
“Our defence pleased me the most.”
Nepe won the toss and Pirates kicked off on a cool evening. Ngatapa captain Law chose an end under Ngati Porou East Coast referee Jackson Reuben-Swinton.
Field position and possession were evenly shared but Pirates opened the scoring in the third minute.
Ngatapa turned the ball over centrefield just outside their 22. Pirates went twice down the right sideline, put boot to ball and won the race to it. Two rucks later, powerful left wing Jokatama Cewa dotted down in the right corner.
No conversion followed, but in the sixth minute Ngatapa’s ability to recover quickly in defence of a chip-kick at halfway bore fruit.
Big No.11 Isimeli Yavala touched the ball twice in the five phases of play during which the hosts moved from the right touch to the middle of Paddy’s Park 1.
Fullback Matt Raleigh’s super pass to Yavala set him off down the sideline.
He got the ball infield to Peter Livingston and the determined centre weaved and bucked his way to score, 15 metres in from the corner.
The score was 5-5 and such had been the start that it seemed the game might open up.
The way was shut to tryscorers from the sixth minute on but Ngatapa second five-eighth Ricardo Patricio, for the second week in a row, was superb.
With his goal-kicking, he proved to be a match-winner.
In the 31st minute, 10m off the left touch on Pirates’ 22, he landed the first of his three penalty goals to give Ngatapa an 8-5 lead at halftime.
Pirates first-five Avia Ropati — an elusive and creative talent — attempted to return fire from five metres outside the home team’s 22 centrefield in the 46th minute without joy.
Then, 65 minutes in, Patricio struck gold once more, 15m off the left touch and 23m out for 11-5. In the 81st minute, he kicked his last penalty goal, from 35m out, centrefield, for 14-5.
None of this speaks to scrum anchor Axel Campbell’s great-hearted match-effort in terms of mobility and muscle, or the class and vision of Raleigh.
It was a battle waged from touchline to touchline, and in the second half space appeared and vanished in almost the same instant.
Second-rowers Grant Law and Jacob Samuel (in league with their skipper) played a crucial role at the lineout for Ngatapa.
Neither side truly dominated in that area. Nor did either pack own the set scrum or swamp the opposition in the loose.
Field position far more than possession decided the outcome at Patutahi on Friday night but the sides’ next meeting — at the Oval on June 25 — should see the tackle shackles loosen a little.
