Rotorua Boys' High edge out Tauranga

Rotorua Boys' High player Te Ra Whata gets a pass of in the match against Tauranga Boys' College. PHOTO/JOHN BORREN

There are moments in sport where it does not seem right for one team to lose.

The Bay of Plenty final between the outstanding First XVs of Tauranga Boys' College and Rotorua Boys' High School, played in glorious conditions at Nicholson Field yesterday, was one such occasion.

Both sides scored four excellently worked tries but at the final blast from referee Mate Samuels it was Rotorua Boys' who prevailed by 27-25.

Reigning national champions Rotorua now play Wesley College for the right to take on Hamilton Boys' to find the team to represent the Chiefs at next month's Top Four tournament.

The visitors began in style with an early try to No 8 Kaydis Hona from a powerful forward surge before Tauranga captain Will Ngatai made a strong burst to link with livewire flanker Flynn Kelly in a sweeping movement finished off by Manaia Harawira.

Rotorua's excellent fullback Kaleb Trask showed some silky skills to score and take a 14-5 lead but in the final play of the half Tauranga fullback Cole Forbes started and finished another long range raid to close the gap to 14-10 at the break.

Ngatai started the second half with another fine run and this time right winger Shi Jie Yong scored. Another conversion miss proved costly but Tauranga had the lead 15-14 and were roared on by what seemed like most of the school in support.

Trask regained the lead with a penalty before Tauranga camped in the Rotorua half and put some real heat on the Rotorua line.

But an unforced error in spilling a simple pass with a try on changed the game's momentum as Rotorua escaped.

Two minutes later they scored down the other end through Tarzan Smith. Winger Yong charged Trask's conversion down to keep the score to 27-18.

Tauranga flanker Kelly sparked a late raid which saw big prop Sione Afu Tuputupu score to set up a frantic final three minutes with Rotorua holding on for an epic win.

Rotorua Boys' assistant coach Craig Hodge said his team had the desire needed to win.

"We knew it was do or die so we had to put it all out there and play the full 70 minutes," he said.

"Obviously Tauranga took us right to the end and we knew we were going to be in for it. We're national champions so we always have to make sure we set the bar and everyone is trying to beat us.

"We came in with that pressure on top of us but the boys handled it quite well. We needed to win that breakdown area and the plan was to have no daylight between the support and the ball carrier.

"That was key for us and playing down the right end of the park."

Rotorua Boys' High School 27 (Kaydis Hona, Kaleb Trask, Tarzan Smith, Taane Paki tries; Trask 2 cons, pen) Tauranga Boys' College 25 (Manaia Harawira,Cole Forbes, Shi Jie Yong, Sione Afu Tuputupu tries; Jake Malbon con, pen)