Ben Tameifuna celebrates with the ITM Cup Championship trophy. Photo / Getty Images
Hawkes Bay 35 Manawatu 30
Hawke's Bay coach Peter Russell clearly did his homework last week.
The Magpies' mentor orchestrated his troops in fine fashion last night as they beat Manawatu to claim the ITM Cup rugby championship and earn promotion to next season's premiership.
The Bay dominated Manawatu
in the forwards, particularly at the breakdown, and the home side went for long periods without front-foot ball.
Russell said his troops were stung by their recent losses to Northland and Taranaki.
"We targeted that area of the game," Russell said of the breakdown battle.
"We learnt a couple of lessons against Northland and 'Naki, to be honest.
"They're quite physical all across the paddock and that's usually us and we had to bring that game tonight - and they were - they were a rampant Manawatu forward pack."
Hawke's Bay No 8 Karl Lowe led the charge and he was well supported by flankers Trent Boswell-Wakefield and Adam Bradey as the visitors gained parity up front.
Manawatu coach Dave Rennie, who was in charge of the Turbos for the last time before he leaves to take control of the Chiefs, said his side weren't physical enough.
"We got outmuscled all over the park, didn't we?" he said.
"[Hawke's Bay] were pretty flat against Taranaki last week, but they were a different side today and we just battled to get anything going. We turned over a lot of pill out wide, especially from counter-rucking, so it was disappointing."
Without nine players due to World Cup commitments and injuries, Hawke's Bay were down on manpower and went in to the encounter as slight outsiders with the bookies.
"A lot of people wrote us off early," Russell said. "We just had a game plan, stuck to it and it paid off."
Manawatu pivot Aaron Cruden also wasn't given the quality service he needed to weave his magic.
"I think that was part of our plan, to take the space away from him, really," Russell said.
"He likes a lot of space and we thought if we can get him under pressure we can do whatever we wanted and we did."
