The Bay ultimately got the upper hand and piled on the points in the second half after a close first 40 minutes.
“We talked about game shape and finding a soft edge during the week . . . we talked about being ruthless to close games out,” Cairns said.
Poverty Bay scored early through blindside flanker Jesse Kapene. He ran a good supporting line for centre Tione Hubbard, who capitalised on a wayward offload and sliced through a gap in the Coast's defensive line before passing to Kapene.
Poverty Bay played most of the game without playmaker Andrew Tauatevalu after he took a scary blow to the head 15 minutes into the game.
Looking to run the ball back after a deep kick, Tauatevalu took on the defensive line and was knocked out in an accidental clash of heads with Coast winger Fabyan Kahaki.
Players showed immediate concern for Tauatevalu, supporting his neck as medical staff came to his aid. Fears of serious injury were allayed when Tauatevalu was able to make his way off the field without help.
Kelvin Smith took over the kicking duties after Tauatevalu left the field and was 100 percent from the tee. He made hard kicks from both corners in a swirling wind.
East Coast kept in touch on the scoreboard in the first half, scoring through loosehead prop Perrin Manuel. Proving that front-rowers can be agile too, Manuel stepped off his outside foot and dummied his way through a gap. His momentum carried him over the line, despite the best efforts of the covering defence.
Despite that setback, Poverty Bay held firm and maintained their lead throughout. Strong ball running by the forwards in the middle of the park gave them the base to spread the ball wide. The Coast defence started to creep in because of the pressure and Poverty Bay capitalised with tries to wingers Te Peehi Fairlie and Raleigh.
Two penalties to wing George Shields kept the Coast in the picture, down 21-11 at halftime.
In the second half, Poverty Bay spent long periods camped in the Coast's red zone. The defence held out for almost 30 minutes before the mounting pressure took its toll on the Coast's stamina.
Poverty Bay's scrum was dominant all game and as East Coast slowed the Bay scrum got stronger. Following a string of resets the Bay looked for a push-over try. As the scrum disintegrated, and with a penalty advantage, No.8 Adrian Wyrill took the ball off the back and pop-passed to openside flanker Willie Bolingford, who scored in the confusion.
East Coast hit back with a try to No.8 Hone Haerewa out on the wing as his team lined up with numbers to burn. Haerewa took on the last line of defence head-first and reached out to score a try.
But it wasn't enough. The struggles of the Coast scrum were highlighted again soon after, when it broke apart as the Bay went for a push-over try and a penalty try was awarded.
Cairns said Poverty Bay saw their scrum as a weapon that helped them “get on top of the set-piece”.
“Ngati Porou played some good rugby too. They carried hard but our defence was better this week.”
