PB Still have a shot at making Lochore Cup play-offs

Poverty Bay openside flanker Callum McDonald scores a try against Thames Valley.

It is said that fortune favours the brave. And that is exactly what Poverty Bay must be when they take on King Country at Taupo on Saturday.

With two games remaining before the Heartland Championship playoffs, Poverty Bay’s two bonus points from scoring four tries and finishing within seven points of Thames Valley in Saturday’s 37-34 loss has kept alive their hopes of making the semifinals.

With coach Mana Otai’s men 10th in the 12-team competition, a place in the top four is still mathematically possible, but highly unlikely.

Qualifying for the Lochore Cup semifinals (fifth-to-eighth-placed teams), however, is still within their grasp.

If the Bay beat or pick up bonus points against King Country, then take maximum points from a home game against Buller, who have yet to win a game this season, that could be good enough to make the Lochore Cup playoffs.

There are some who would suggest that even if they did they have “no chance” of winning it after watching the Bay completely outplay Thames Valley (joint second) to lead 20-3 in the 32nd minute only to self-destruct after taking a 34-27 lead with five minutes to play.

But the Bay showed enough in that opening 30-minute period and through their commitment in the last 20 — after lock Micaiah Torrance-Reid was sent off for stomping — to suggest they can upset King Country in Taupo.

With first-choice first five-eighth Kelvin Smith unavailable for the Valley clash, Otai sprung a surprise by naming left winger Tom Iosefo in the No.10 jersey.

The gamble paid off, with Iosefo scoring two tries and causing Thames Valley all sorts of problems with his pace.

His combination with halfback Mario Counsell, behind a hard-working tight five and loose trio who won the battle of the breakdown, saw the Bay camp inside Valley’s half from kick-off to the 31-minute mark.

The home side attacked from the opening whistle and skipper Tamanui Hill set the tone with a try inside the first 60 seconds.

Anyone coming into Rugby Park at that stage would have thought it was Poverty Bay who were top-four contenders, not the Valley.

That is the positive approach the Bay must take into this Saturday’s clash, and if they can forge a lead, they must defend as though their lives depended on it.

A Bay supporter posed an interesting question midway through the first half of the Valley game.

“How can they (the Bay) play so badly against the Coast (East Coast) last week and play like this today?”

Valley coach Matt Bartleet might have the answer.

“We watched a video of the Coast game and everything they didn’t do that day, they did against us,” Bartleet said.

“They killed us at the breakdown, won all the collision battles, won the broken play and were good value for their early lead.

“We felt they were running out of puff towards the end of the first half and we sensed we were in with a chance once we started matching their intensity.

“But they showed great character to get in front with only 14 men.

“I’m relieved to get the win, which gives us a realistic chance of top four and, if not, the Lochore Cup, which we missed out on last year.”