“The first half was stop-start. The second half was a lot better.”
Skudder won the toss, chose to play with the nor’westerly wind, and his black and whites were in an excellent position from the start, with Waikohu putting the ball out on the full at the kick-off.
YMP opened the scoring in the ninth minute. From a scrum 12m from Waikohu’s goal-line, No.8 Stuart Leach sent a pass left.
Waikohu put paid to the movement, referee Ben Holt awarded YMP a penalty and, from a tap-kick, Leach scored 8m in from the corner.
First-five Mitchell Purvis landed the first of three conversions to give YMP a 7-0 lead.
In the 19th minute, Waikohu got on the board courtesy of a brilliant chase to a line-kick of near pin-point accuracy.
From a Waikohu penalty kicked for the corner 10m into YMP territory, YMP wing Stephen Blake tried to save the ball in-field.
His opposite, Latrell Walker, caught it and dotted down in the corner. It was not converted.
An amazing play occurred in the 36th minute off a blinding break from second-five Taine Aupouri.
It had its origins in a missed line-kick from Waikohu 10 metres on their own side of halfway. The ball was saved in play and from 8m off the sideline, YMP began a wide-ranging counter-attack to the left. Aupouri hared 55m to dot the ball 8m from the corner at the other end of the park.
Aupouri’s teammate, centre Te Peehi Fairlie, took umbrage at opposition players standing over the try-scorer after the grounding. Fairlie was dismissed by Holt, who then disallowed the try.
Waikohu were awarded a penalty, found touch, and the first half closed on a note that raised as many questions as answers. Halftime came with YMP 7-5 ahead.
Waikohu captain, blindside flanker Kupu, opened the second-half scoring with a sensational try in the 52nd minute.
YMP turned the ball over at a ruck 15m into Waikohu territory, 8m off the left touch. Waikohu went left over two phases, came back right, fetcher Adrian Wyrill broke down the middle, and Lloyd scored — monkey flip and all — in the corner. His try was not converted.
YMP struck back hard, with a converted try to fullback Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea off a Skudder pass, in the 56th minute for 14-10.
Aupouri stormed by Waikohu’s defence in the 66th minute. A YMP scrum set 5m into Waikohu territory, 15m off the touch, was the platform from which the defending champions hammered right, came back left with Aupouri to combine power and footwork in the grounding, 11m in from the left corner, for 19-10.
YMP scored from the restart. Leach caught the ball, and was tackled. Two phases of play later, from behind halfway, he took a pass and ran 62m to score in the right corner for 24-10.
YMP scored their last try, to reserve Whaimotu Craft-Chemis, under the crossbar in the 74th minute.
Purvis converted Craft-Chemis’s try for 31-10.
