Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Big cup decider looms as rivals Taradale, Old Boys Marist win again

Napier Old Boys' Marist fullback Patrick Hedley scoring a crucial second-half try in a 39-29 battle-of-the-greens win against Hastings Rugby and Sports in their Nash Cup match in Napier on Saturday. Photo / Emma Rodger

Hawke’s Bay will get a Nash Cup decider with a week to spare after defending champions Taradale and Napier rivals Old Boys Marist kept to their four-try-bonus winning form in Premier club rugby on Saturday.

Taradale, who had an average scoreline of about 68-14 across the first six matches of the round-robin, were kept comparatively in check in a 33-3 home win over Waipukurau club Central.

But on their home ground at Park Island, Old Boys Marist (OBM) had to work much harder for their 39-29 win over Hastings Rugby and Sport, scoring the last 17 points after being down 29-22 with 16 minutes to go.

Taradale host OBM at Tareha Recreation Reserve next Saturday, their first meeting since Taradale won 28-15 in the Maddison Trophy championship final last year, and with the winner claiming the Nash Cup for 2025.

That will be with a match each the following weekend still to play before the top-six championship battle begins.

At Tamatea Park, also in Napier, home side Napier Pirate scored 13 tries to beat Clive 81-0 to leapfrog Hastings Rugby and Sport into third place, while Havelock North secured their top-six place with a 38-21 win over Napier Tech Old Boys in Havelock North.

MAC travelled to Dannevirke for a 50-29 win over hosts Aotea, who are still to win a Premier game in 2025.

The battle for sixth place will likely go to the wire, with Central ahead of Tech by a single point.

OBM had two special heroes in lock Matt Monaghan, who scored two tries, and fullback Patrick Hedley, who scored a try and kicked nine points.

It was Hedley’s latest in a string of good club performances since moving from Heartland union King Country, for whom he played 11 matches last season, with a debut in the Ranfurly Shield match against Hawke’s Bay in Hastings.

They teamed up for the try and conversion that opened the scoring after four minutes dominated by OBM with a wind that looked likely to be a decisive factor.

Napier Old Boys Marist lock Matt Monaghan (with the ball) lines up Hastings Rugby and Sports flanker Jeriah Mua in their Nash Cup match at Tremain Field, Park Island. Photo / Emma Rodger

But replying against the run-of-play, with a try to first five-eighths Koby Deacon breaking away down the right flank, Hastings Rugby and Sport were able to keep in touch with some stern defence amid a significant territorial deficit.

They would have been pleased to be down just five points at 17-12 when flanker and former New Zealand Under-20 representative Jeriah Mua scored a try, converted just before halftime by fullback Oscar Sowman, and ecstatic to be in front 19-17 when Sowman added another two points after Deacon’s second try four minutes into the second half.

OBM regained the lead just four minutes later when captain and hooker Dylan Homan scored in a well-executed lineout, maul and break from just over 5m out.

Hastings Rugby and Sport, flying a little under the radar in the earlier rounds but with just a single loss to their name, came back with a try to centre Perez Malo and a conversion and penalty to Sowman to take a seven-point lead and look a good shot to take out the battle of the greens.

Instead, it sparked OBM, with Hedley running into the line wide-out to score in front of his side’s clubhouse, then Monaghan getting his second in his last act on the field, with flanker Will Tremain sealing the outcome with a try four minutes from the end.

With 46 points against MAC a week earlier, becoming the first to pass 100 in his 13th season at the level, 30-year-old Trinity Spooner-Neera, at first five-eighths, continued the heroics with an 18-point haul in Taradale’s latest win, including two of the Maroons’ five tries.

He has 125 points and 11 tries after seven games and is now three tries ahead as the top try-scorer and 33 points ahead of leading chaser Hedley’s 92 points as top points-scorer.

Flanker Tipene Maxwell and centre Anaru Paenga each scored three times as the Pirates claimed 13 tries against Clive, while also on the scoresheet were two Super Rugby Pacific players in prop Pouri Rakete-Stones, who scored the first try, and Blues player Zarn Sullivan, who booted two conversions before the kicking duties were taken over by first five Liam Batt, who landed five.

Wairoa side Tapuae had their first loss in Poverty Bay Premier rugby since entering the grade at the start of last season, being beaten 28-12 by Gisborne side YMP in a top-of-the-table match in Gisborne.

Scores

Napier Old Boys Marist 39 (Matt Monaghan 2, Michael Beech, Dylan Homan, Patrick Hedley, Will Tremain tries; Hedley pen, 3 con) Hastings Rugby and Sports 29 (Koby Deacon 2, Jeriah Mua, Perez Malo tries; Oscar Sowman pen, 3 con).

Taradale 33 (Trinity Neera Spooner 2, Flynn Allen, Walter Kava, Hadlee Hay-Horton tries; Spooner-Neera 4 con) Central 3 (Tate Harte pen).

Napier Pirate 81 (Tipene Maxwell 3, Anaru Paenga-Morgan 3, Pouri Rakete-Stones, Ryota Matsuda, Al Momoisea, Sean Morrison, Eneri McGrath, Hugh Taylor, Rocky Hoffman tries; Liam Batt 5, Zarn Sullivan 2, Momoisea cons) Clive 0.

Havelock North 38 (Eroni Nawaqa 3, Reuben Allen, Ash Robinson-Bartlett, Brendon Edmonds tries; Reiri-Paku 4 cons) Napier Tech Old Boys 21 (Elia Bari 2, Tim Farrell tries; Leighton Shaw 3 cons).

MAC 50 (Faafetai Osooso Onasei 2, Penisini Taufa, Suilasi Feinga, Tom Iosefo, Solomone Kuii Kefu Fono, William Malaitai, Walter Schuster tries; Malaitai 5 cons) Aotea 29 (Donovan Godinet 2, Hoera Stephenson, Manahi Goulton, Richard Stephenson tries; Stephenson 2 cons).

Points: Taradale 35, Napier OBM 35, Napier Pirate 28, Hastings R&S 26, Havelock North 26, Central 11, Napier Tech OB 10, MAC 6, Clive 5, Aotea 2.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.