Ihaia West nips in for a vital try during his 23-point haul on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Magpies 33 Steamers 26 ITM Cup semifinal
Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby first five-eighth Ihaia West was oblivious to his record-breaking feats on Saturday as his team booked a home ITM Cup Championship final.
"I don't play for those sort of records but I'm pretty stoked to have achieved them," West said after the Magpies 33-26 victory against the Bay of Plenty Steamers in their semifinal at Napier's McLean Park which secured them a final against the Wellington Lions at the same venue on Friday night.
West, 23, who scored 23 points with a try and four penalties and three conversions from as many attempts at goal in a tricky wind not only beat his previous record of 21 points set last year for a Magpie in a match against Bay of Plenty. He also took his first-class points tally for the Magpies to 445, which places him third on the list of top points scorers in Magpies history behind the late Jarrod Cunningham, who scored 1007 and Ian Bishop, who scored 631.
When one takes into account the fact West, in his 43rd first-class match overtook Matt Berquist, who scored 423 points in 51 games and Tony Small, who scored 435 in 64, it's a tremendous feat.
"I was just happy to be striking the ball well again as I hadn't been in the previous two games. I had a big week with Osh [Magpies goalkicking coach Peter O'Shaughnessy] and got my timing right. I was rushing things so we slowed the tempo down again," West said.
It was a surprise Magpies flanker Tom Stanley was selected by the venue selectors for the player-of-the-match award but West, who wasn't concerned, was my pick.
"Tom had a top game too. He covers my backside on defence so I'm happy for him," West said.
Before the kickoff of the Wellington-Otago semifinal West wasn't fussed either way in terms of final opponents.
"We'll just concentrate on the things we can control. We'll put in another hard week of work and come out hissing," West added.
His team won't be short of work-ons this week and an improved scrum will be a top priority. Their first-half effort was disjointed and the Steamers deserved their 18-13 lead at the interval.
Neglect of basic draw-and-pass plays cost the Magpies two tries in the first half. Once again their missed tackle count, 24, five more than the Steamers was too high. Steamers flanker Johan Bardoul's first-half hat-trick was achieved with alarming ease. The Magpies breakdown play in the first half was poor and head coach Craig Philpott acknowledged that and pointed out Stanley had to take a lot of the credit for the second half improvement.
"I don't remember us ever having an easy game against the Steamers," Philpott said.
He pointed out centre Richard Buckman will miss the final with a knee injury which forced him off after just four minutes and fullback Lewis Marshall will also be unavailable with a calf injury collected in the 62nd minute.
Close behind West and Stanley in the battle for Magpies player-of-the-match honours was lock Michael Allardice.
Accurate and busy at lineout time, Allardice was the Magpies top tackler with 11 and he had an average gain of 4.6 metres from his five carries.
Halfback Chris Eaton and No8 Trent Boswell-Wakefield were also busy defensively with 10 tackles each but they will be disappointed with three and five misses respectively.
Bardoul and captain and lock Culum Retallick were the best of the Steamers forwards.
Retallick finished with 14 tackles.
Former Magpie Tino Nemani and fellow midfielder Craig Clare were the most dangerous of the Steamers backs. Clare had an average gain of 6.9m from his seven carries.
While the Magpies bombed two tries in the first half the Steamers were unlucky to have two disallowed by the TV match official, for shepherding.
Assuming a successful conversion, it would have tied the game.
However, it was the Magpies', and in particular, West's day.
Roll on Friday night and the chance to return to the Premiership for the first time since 2012.
Match highlights
* Heartstopper:
Magpies captain and flanker Brendon O'Connor's 13th minute decision to hang on to the ball instead of drawing the final defender and passing to send centre Robbie Fruean in for a try. Fortunately his team was ahead by seven points and not behind by the same margin at the final whistle.
* Turning point:
Magpies first five-eighth Ihaia West's 72nd minute penalty which put the hosts ahead 33-21. It was always going to be tough for the Steamers to win from here.
* Player of the match:
West with his crucial try and 23-point haul, which included seven successes from as many attempts at goal. Magpies flanker Tom Stanley and Steamers flanker Johan Bardoul, who scored three tries, were close behind.
* Scorers:
Hawke's Bay 33 (Richard Buckman, Brendon O'Connor, Ihaia West tries; West 4 pens, 3 cons ) Bay of Plenty 26 (Johan Bardoul 3, Te Rangi Fraser tries; Nick Evemy, Dan Hollinshead pens). HT: 13-18.