He also paid tribute to their opponents who while well beaten, arrived in Te Karaka to play rugby and fought to the bitter end.
“I think they had some really strong carries from their number 8 James Hughes-Lock and James Higgins (reserve). They were also really successful with their lineouts, as Dan Law (blindside flanker) stole a couple of our lineouts”.
Ngatapa co-coach Dan Law knew it would be tough.
“It was a long day in the office,” he said. “We came out strong in the first 20 mins but then defence let us down and they proceeded to stack the points on.”
Waikohu were first on the board when Smith, playing a centre rather than his usual first-five spot, finished off a good and explosive run from second-five Jacob Leaf in the 10th minute. Smith converted for 7-0.
From the restart, Ngatapa put pressure on Waikohu, refusing to allow them into their territory.
Their hard work paid off.
An unforced error put the the home team on the back foot metres out from the try line and quick ball movement from halfback Michael Livingston found centre Peter Livingston on the burst and he raced through a gap to dot down in the 15th minute.
Second five Ricardo Patricio converted from the sideline to tie it 7-all.
That spurred Waikohu into action and they took control — running in tries to Wilson (17th minute), blindside flanker Adrian Wyrill (24th), Wilson again (32nd) and Smith again (35th).
Smith converted three of those tries and Waikohu led 33-7 at halftime.
The tries kept coming in the second half. Leaf opened their second-half account just two minutes in, followed by lock Matekairoa McGuire (45th) .
Smith completed his hat-trick in the 52nd minute and giant replacement prop Jarryd Broughton scored a typical Jarryd Broughton powerhouse try in the 60th minute — knocking over defenders like a bowling ball smashing down pins and stretching out to slam-dunk the ball over the line.
Despite being 55-7 down, Ngatapa were not taking it lying down and stopped the rot in the 67th minute. From a short goal-line drop-out by Waikohu, Ngatapa pounced. They headed back towards the try line, went to ground and zipped the ball through the backline where fullback Matt Raleigh drew in three defenders to create a overlap for replacement back Karl Mackie to slide over. Waikohu replied in the 76th minute with a try to openside flanker Kupu Lloyd but Ngatapa continued to show immense perseverance and had the last say with an 81st-minute try to winger Manaia Ngata.
