Ngamatapouri winger Villie Kuruyabaki and lock Shaq McKay look to shut down Border No8 Cole Baldwin at Dallision Park on Friday night. Photo: Sarah Lourie
Waverley Harvesting Border have maintained their immaculate record in night time rugby while Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri finished a match without a competition point to show for the first time at Dallison Park on Friday.
The annual duck hunting weekend fixture drew an excellent South Taranaki crowd for what is Tasman Tanning Premier's newest derby game, and the home side were composed when it counted to run out 35-13 winners.
Border had an eclectic loose forward combination due to the injuries of Kieran Hussey, Renato Tikoisolomone and Ray Stark, while Hayden Caskey came off the bench after missing training.
Regular flanker Angus Middleton was joined by incumbent Steelform Wanganui front rowers Cole Baldwin and Tietie Tuimauga in doing the sweeper work.
Nonetheless, Border knew how to sweat on opposition mistakes and setbacks, as the physical contact and pace took a toll of Ngamatapouri with their already lean bench depleted by a raft of injuries - the most concerning being the ankle of Samu Kubunavanua, who was covering No8 for Bryn Hudson.
Border scored their two opening tries when Ngamatapouri had gaps in the line.
The visitors still maintained their physicality in the slippery conditions, which saw both sides made plenty of mistakes and infringements, but despite closing the gap to 21-13 in the final quarter, Border had plenty of quality they could still bring to bear - scoring two late tries through Tuimauga to maintain their unbeaten record.
Centre Kaveni Dabonaise glided across the turf on a series of dynamic runs, while making a number of key offloads in the tackle to set up tries.
It proved an entertaining battle with Ngamatapouri's go-to man Jim Seruwalu, who without Kubunavanua's help had to make plays on his own and busted through multiple Border tackles to score his team's sole try under the posts.
The young Border forwards Chris Breur and Middleton were always keen to play up tempo, with Middleton staying on after a sickening accidental clash of knee and head, which saw Ngamatapouri winger Villie Kuruyabaki get knocked out.
Ngamatapouri flankers Patrick Woods and Cory Furness had a hard night, but held their own with some brave tackling.
The visitors will want to go away and work on their lineout security, as with the evening dew a number of bat-downs slipped from hand and Border charged through to hack the ball away, led by Baldwin.
Border coach Justin Lock was pleased his side kept their structure after Ngamatapouri's comeback, although he would have preferred they did not let themselves get put in that position.
"We had a lot of opportunities I felt we didn't make the most of.
"We didn't make their forwards work hard enough - to go wide.
"We underestimated the night game with the dewey conditions."
Knowing the long odds for any visiting team playing under lights, Ngamatapouri had intended for the game to be step one in a two-match process, planning to give Border a run at home in the second round.
Assistant coach Charles Osborne could only hope his battered team is back to full strength by then.
"Very confident, their key errors we'll target next time.
"A few players out, but we did alright on what we had. We had a few players out of position."
Osborne acknowledged that protection of the lineout ball must be addressed.
"That's another work-on. There's a few errors that will come out."
Ngamatapouri prop Eon Wallace showed early signs of the physical match when he came off for a blood bin and while his team were trying to get a replacement on, Border swooped.
After several phases, Middleton hit the ball up near the posts and twisted out of tackles to dive over.
Minutes later, with Kubunavanua limping off, Border put the ball through the backs and Dabonaise made the perfect offload to fullback Nick Harding at pace, who put winger Tom Symes over clean as a whistle in the corner.
But Border made a number of infringements and Ngamatapouri first-five Te Tua Kemp was able to close the gap with a penalty.
Both teams traded chip kicks and surges but could not add to the half time score, before Border seemed to gain ascendancy not long after the resumption as the backline collected Ngamatapouri fullback Carlwyn Riddles attacking chip kick and caught the defenders napping in a broken field.
Second-five James Forsythe took a long pass and worked into the gap, finding halfback Lindsay Horrocks inside on a marginal line ball to run to the posts for 21-3.
Border's coaching staff were a little puzzled when Kemp took a second penalty shot for 21-6 with the clock passing the hour mark, but got their answer why when Seruwalu again made something from nothing with a barnstorming run, still beating tacklers behind the goal line to set up an easy kick and bring Ngamataporui nearly into touching distance at 21-13.
But the champions doubled down and put the pressure on, with Harding just missing a long range penalty, before Dabonaise put them back on the front foot with another sycthing run and Border spread to an overlap for Caskey to charge forward and put Tuimauga over.
Border got another penalty in front with time almost up, but rather than take an easy three, they rubbed a little salt in the wound by going to the sideline and driving from the lineout, with Tuimauga twisting across the tryline from their second attempt at the barge-over.
Border 35 (T Tuimauga 2, A Middleton, T Symes, L Horrocks tries; N Harding 4 con; H Symes con) bt Ngamatapouri 13 (J Seruwalu try; T Kemp 2 pen, con). HT: 14-3.