Matatū captain Alana Bremner with the Aupiki trophy. Photo / Photosport
Matatū 33
Chiefs Manawa 31
With just seconds left on the clock in the Super Rugby Aupiki final, Matatū felt their chances of dethroning Chiefs Manawa slip away.
Holding a two-point lead in the final minute of the game in Hamilton, Matatū looked to have secured a turnover inside their own 22, only to have the play pulled up for a tackler not rolling away – almost directly in front of the sticks.
The faces of the Matatū players told the story; a tale of disbelief at the call and the fact their dream run from foot of the ladder to champions within the space of a season was about to be snatched away from them.
The Tenika Willison sprayed her attempt at goal, and that feeling of devastation quickly became one of elation as the Southerners claimed a 33-31 win.
“We always believed in ourselves, Matatū centre Amy du Plessis told Sky Sport of the win. “We’re overwhelmed with the result.”
Matatū failed to win a game a season ago, and only won one of their three regular season games during this campaign. But they stepped up when it mattered most, with 23 points from fullback Renee Holmes leading the side to their first title.
It looked like that result was nearly out of the question early in the contest. Just two minutes in, Manawa had crossed the try line, only for prop Tanya Kalounivale to drop the ball over the line.
She atoned two minutes later to score the opening try.
Within 19 minutes, the defending champions were matching the scoreboard, with halfback Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu capitalising on a defensive misread from a set piece to break the Matatū line, before Kalounivale scored a second following a strong run.
Matatū needed to be the next team to score, and prop Amy Rule got her side on the board from close range.
That saw a lift in the side, and their backline began to find their way into the match; du Plessis, Holmes and second-five Grace Brooker were particularly impressive.
“I’ve probably struggled the last few weeks and haven’t put out the performances that I wanted to. I literally wrote believe on my wrist because I wanted to just believe in myself, go out there and know I could do it. I just did everything I could for my team,” du Plessis said of her own performance.
Not long after their first try, du Plessis was put through a gap in the Manawa defensive line and strode into space, spinning out of a tackle before slinging a pass to Holmes to finish a slick move.
When Martha Mataele picked off a pass to run from her own 22m to score following a Holmes penalty, Matatū had taken the lead with just 31 minutes of the game gone.
Manawa took the lead back when Mererangi Paul was put through with a lovely delayed pass from Carla Hohepa, but it became a matter of which team would be able to execute down the stretch.
A second try to Holmes with just over 20 minutes to play, followed by two penalty goals, pushed Matatū back out to a seven-point lead and while Manawa scored the only try of the second half through Luka Connor, a missed conversion followed by a missed penalty saw Matatū cling to the win - handing Manawa their first ever Super Rugby Aupiki loss.
Matatū 33 (Renee Holmes 2, Amy Rule, Martha Mataele tries; Holmes 2 cons, 3 pens)
Chiefs Manawa 31 (Tanya Kalounivale 2, Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu, Mererangi Paul, Luka Connor tries; Tenika Willison 3 cons)
HT: 22-26