Rugby: Gritty Steamers dig in for gutsy win

Steamers' midfielder Sam Beard takes on the Hawke's Bay defence. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Steamers had to endure a wave of concerted attacks on their line in injury time by the Hawke's Bay Magpies before they could celebrate their first win of the ITM Cup season.

A last ditch tackle to hold up a Magpies player over the line by outstanding hooker Joe Royal clinched the victory that had as many flat moments as moments of brilliance.

The match started at a frenetic pace with Hawke's Bay doing most of the attacking for three minutes which ended with a dive for the corner that was ruled out. But they opened the scoring a minute later when Gillies Kaka broke the defensive line to put winger Telusa Veainu in the corner for a try awarded after TMO Phil Barnett checked the grounding. Ihaia West converted from touch to give the Magpies the perfect start.

West slotted a fine penalty after 17 minutes to stretch the lead to 10-0 before the Steamers finally put some intensity into their play to win a penalty that first-five Willie Ripia kicked to get the home team on the board.

Hawke's Bay broke through the Steamers line to hammer away at the goal-line but the Steamers managed to hold out the rampant Magpies. They got a lucky break when West missed two penalty attempts followed by a dropped ball over the Steamers line to prevent the scoreline blowing out.

The Steamers began the second half with renewed vigour and put multiple phases together from the kickoff but again turned the ball over with Hawke's Bay stretched. A penalty for offside at the ruck set up a driving lineout surge and this time the Steamers rumbled over for No8 Joe Tupe to score.

West kicked another penalty to make it 13-8 before Zac Guildford dropped a simple high ball to give the Steamers an attacking scrum. The former All Blacks winger then gave away a penalty under the posts and was sin binned for his trouble in a game-defining moment.

The Steamers had found their mojo and simply ripped the Magpies to bits with the extra man advantage. Ripia kicked three successive penalties and scored a slick try himself after another wave of attacks as the Steamers jumped out to a 24-13 lead with 10 minutes to play.

Replacement halfback Tony Lamborn then split the Steamers defence to set up West for a converted try and thoughts immediately turned to last year's game in Napier. Hawke's Bay scored in injury time to win the match and it looked like history would repeat itself as they won possession from a scrum on their 22 line and swept up field.

But the heroic defence held with some outstanding close quarter tackles and the final blast on referee Mike Fraser's whistle was greeted with relief from the good sized crowd.

Bay of Plenty 24 (Joe Tupe, Willie Ripia tries; Ripia con, 4 pen) Hawke's Bay 20 (Telusa Veainu, Ihaia West tries; Ihaia West 2 cons; 2 pen) Halftime 10-3 Hawkes' Bay.