Waikato earn bonus-point win

Waikato 42 Hawke's Bay 23

Waikato scored 15 points, including a bonus point-earning try, when Hawke's Bay were a man down to skip into second place in the Air New Zealand Cup pool B rugby competition.

Their 42-23 win at McLean Park in Napier enabled them to skip past Canterbury by a point into second place behind Otago going into the last round of the first stage of the competition next weekend.

The better the finish in the first stage, the easier the start to the second stage when the top six and bottom six play off in separate groups.

Waikato scored two tries in the absence of Luke Ottley, who was sinbinned by referee Matt Stanish in the 66th minute for lying on the wrong side of a ruck after he had been warned.

Waikato second five-eighth David Hill kicked a penalty, first-five Williams Ripia scored the side's fourth try, with Hill converting that and fullback Soseni Anesi added a fifth try in Ottley's absence to stretch Hawke's Bay's lead from 27-23 to 42-23.

Hawke's Bay, ably led by Lua Lokotui, fought bravely in front of the home crowd when Waikato settled better in the second half and started to muscle forward by their pack.

They rattled their more experienced opponents and led 12-0 in the first 10 minutes following tries by lock Lokotui and winger Lote Raikabula and a conversion by Aayden Clarke.

However, Waikato came back to lead 17-15 at halftime after blindside flanker Steven Steephano powered through and flanker Liam Messam cut in for a try each and Hill converted both and added a penalty. Both tries came when Hawke's Bay defence were stretched on both sides of the field and failed to regroup quickly.

Hill was a significant cog in Waikato's attacks besides kicking 17 points.

Hawke's Bay heads were down when powerful former All Blacks loose forward Sione Lauaki scored from a strong run after a quick tap-penalty and Hill converted to make it 24-15 early in the second half.

However, midfielder Nathan Mauger gave the McLean Park fans much to cheer about when he dummied his way after Hawke's Bay stole the ball off Waikato winger Roger Randle and counter-attacked swiftly.

Hill and Matt Berquist exchanged a penalty goal each before the homeside suffered the killer blow with Ottley's sinbinning.

Waikato captain Jono Gibbes said his team still had plenty to work on before the second stage of the competition.

"Our lineout has yet to gel though I think we were a bit better than our last game last week," he said.

"It's still not clicking yet.

"Hawke's Bay started really well, they didn't give us time to settle but we were not overly worried when they led with two tries. We knew were were better than that."

Waikato 42 (Steven Steephano, Liam Messam, Sione Lauaki, William Ripia, Soseni Anesi tries; David Hill 3 pen, 4 con)

Hawke's Bay 23 (Lua Lokotui, Lote Raikabula, Nathan Mauger tries; Aayden Clarke pen, con; Matt Berquist pen). Halftime: 17-15.

- NZPA