PB hit by injuries

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Some people always front up.

And despite a scoreline of Poverty Bay 10 Wellington Centurions 57 at Bond Field in Napier, Bay head coach Jamie Hutana knows who they are.

“We had only four reserves but had three players (captain and openside flanker Dylan Hall, lock Ofa Tauatevalu and second five-eighth Tuhakia Stewart) who were injured and had to come off in the first half,” Poverty Bay head coach Jamie Hutana said.

“Blake Beard was awesome off the bench. He came on for Salesi Niuvao at tighthead prop two minutes into the second half, and five minutes later went to blindside flanker, adding energy and go-forward.

“I’m very proud of our boys. They didn’t give up against a big Centurions side that had some fast backs.”

The Centurions selected Hall (three points), hooker Seth Lundon (two points) and first-five-cum-fullback Quinn Collard as Poverty Bay’s best, while No.8 Eparama Sailo, centre Sage Shaw-Tait and hooker Kaleb Sinclair were the Wellington side’s best, according to Poverty Bay.

“At times, the game was very competitive,” Centurions coach Damian Rapira-Davies said.

“Poverty Bay’s backs worked well when they got the ball.”

Centurions left wing Nathan Tanuvasa opened the scoring in the 10th minute. In the 15th minute, first-five Sam Clark followed suit in the wake of a huge run by Centurions captain and openside flanker Alex Faifailoa.

In the 26th minute, blindside flanker Teagan Harawira scored; Clark converted.

In the 33rd minute, Poverty Bay scored through fullback Braedyn Grant.

Centurions halfback Marino Doyle scored on the halftime break, and Clark’s conversion made the score 24-5 to Hawke’s Bay.

In the 41st minute, Sailo scored for 29-5.

In the 47th, Bay right wing Michael Fox scored in the corner to close it to 29-10.

Next to score was Centurions lock Isaac Sailo, in the 55th minute. Clark converted to make it 36-10. In the 60th minute, Shaw-Tait crossed to score and Clark converted for 43-10. In the 65th and 70th minutes, reserve wingers Reuben Puckey and Elijah Tuigamala scored runaway tries over 30 metres and 60m respectively, Clark converting both, for 57-10.

The Poverty Bay-East Coast game scheduled for this weekend at Rugby Park will not now be played and, as a result, the season is over for both sides.

The Coast u18s led by lock Niao Savage put up a courageous match-effort against an aggressive, physical Wellington Samoans side at Bond Field on Saturday. The Samoans won 60-13. Hooker Mark-James Tuapawa scored a try for the Coast, with first-five Cruz Hinaki kicking a conversion and two penalty goals.