Teilia Ferguson celebrates with her Tui teammates after scoring against the Auckland Storm in Hastings on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Teilia Ferguson celebrates with her Tui teammates after scoring against the Auckland Storm in Hastings on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Twelve months ago, the idea of someday lifting the Farah Palmer Cup was nothing but a dream for the Hawke’s Bay Tui.
Now, after a heartstopping 32-31 win over last year’s beaten finalists Auckland Storm in Hastings on Saturday, it feels more like the impossible could be possible this season(although it’s still a rather large stretch).
The Tui led for large portions of the game, but it almost unravelled in the second half at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park.
It took a converted try at the end, and then a nail-biting watch as Storm replacement prop Sophie Fisher’s penalty drifted wide on fulltime before they realised they’d pulled off the upset.
Coach Sione Cherrington-Kite said he’d set goals of making the premiership semifinals in his first year in charge, and that now felt realistic for his “gutsy” charges.
“I’m really happy for the girls who’ve stuck through it since the start of the year. We’ve got our feet firmly on the ground - we know they were without seven Black Ferns - but the belief is there now that things are possible this season.”
Tui right wing Tee Aiolupotea barges her way through the Auckland defence. Photo / Paul Taylor
Cherrington-Kite said No. 8 Kathleen Brown had shown her class and physicality and been an “absolute beast” for Auckland to deal with, while hooker Tamia Edwards had also put in an impressive shift.
Hawke’s Bay, credited with playing in the first inter-provincial women’s rugby match in NZ in 1980, and a founding team when championships started in 1999, have beaten Auckland now twice in 13 games.
The previous win was 15-13 at Park Island, Napier, on August 21, 2006 - reported at the time as Auckland’s first loss in a women’s rugby match in 25 years.
It came in a season in which the Tui also beat Canterbury and eventual title-winner Wellington and reached a semifinal for the first time (also with home advantage).
Auckland returned to Park Island a week later for a semifinal, which it won 24-10 with two tries in the last five minutes after prominent HB wing Leah Phillips injured a leg and was carried from the field on a stretcher when the Bay led 10-8 in the second half.
Auckland did have eight players making their debut on Saturday, but the Tui also had six making theirs, and just nine from the 22 that won the Championship division final in Balclutha last year.
The team now has the bye, before a match-up against current table-toppers Waikato - who thrashed Bay of Plenty 50-7 - awaits.
