Ollie Sapsford seals the deal for Hawke's Bay in style. Photo / Warren Buckland
The Hawke's Bay Magpies ran riot in the second half of their 69-24 win over Southland on Saturday afternoon to defend the Ranfurly Shield for the 14th consecutive time.
Magpies fans who braved the gloomy weather watched their team light up McLean Park with six tries to one after halftime.
Fullback Chase Tiatia was influential on both attack and defence in the opening minutes of his return from injury.
The Magpies couldn't make the most of their early dominance and Southland cashed in on their first attacking opportunity.
Winger Rory van Vugt opened the scoring with a try in the eighth minute, finishing off a counter-attack.
Hawke's Bay responded immediately, giving the ball plenty of width and opening up the midfield for prop Pouri Rakete-Stones to get the Magpies' first try.
They jumped ahead on the quarter hour mark with hooker Tyrone Thompson finishing off a close-range lineout drive.
He and blindside flanker Marino Mikaele-Tu'u, in his 50th appearance for the province, both won penalties for holding on as Hawke's Bay asserted dominance at the breakdown.
No 8 Devan Flanders sparked a break from 75 metres out that ended in a try under the posts for Brad Weber.
Another good counter-attack from the Stags saw van Vugt get his second try in the corner after 25 minutes.
Southland first five-eighths Marty Banks kicked his team within two points after Magpies lock Isaia Walker-Leawere was penalised for obstruction.
A couple of penalties the other way gave Hawke's Bay another five-metre attacking lineout and they drove over again for Thompson's second try.
That was enough for the Magpies to take a seven-point lead into halftime.
Hawke's Bay made a hissing start to the second period and Thompson was only denied a hat-trick try by Southland's cynical play on their own tryline.
The Magpies recycled and Duane Monkley MVP frontrunner Lincoln McClutchie picked out Neria Foma'i with a beautiful cross kick, giving the winger an easy try against the province he began his career with.
Tyrone Thompson did complete his hat-trick in the 50th minute with Hawke's Bay's sixth try as they sprinted three scores ahead.
Openside flanker Solomone Funaki came off the bench for his blazer game while centre Stacey Ili was substituted in his 50th game for the Magpies.
Following a brilliant 50/22 kick from within his own 22 metre line to turn Southland around, Tiatia made a beautiful tip pass try assist for Ollie Sapsford to score on the hour mark.
The Stags did stop the bleeding momentarily with a try to winger Viliami Fine after a close-range lineout.
Substitute tighthead prop Joel Hintz responded with a massive scrum effort to earn a penalty and allow McClutchie to kick Hawke's Bay back to four scores ahead.
The Magpies cracked the half century with 10 minutes to play with another lineout drive try, this time scored by reserve hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes.
He grabbed another the same way five minutes later, and the Magpies rubbed it in with Mikaele-Tu'u slotting the sideline conversion to celebrate his 50th game in style.
Ollie Sapsford scored his second try and the Magpies' 10th after fulltime to complete the rout.
Hawke's Bay's next Ranfurly Shield defence is against Wellington on Saturday night, with the two sides also duelling for NPC finals seeding with three round robin games left.
The Shield was the second trophy Hawke's Bay Rugby secured in about an hour with the Tui upsetting Otago Spirit 24-20 in Balclutha to win the Farah Palmer Cup Championship final and their first-ever national title.
Hawke's Bay 69 (Rakete-Stones, Thompson 3, Weber, Foma'i, Sapsford 2, Kereru-Symes 2 tries; McClutchie 7/9 cons, 1/1 pen, Mikaele-Tu'u 1/1 con)
Southland 24 (van Vugt 2, Fine tries; Banks 3/3 cons, 1/1 pen)
HT: 24-17