Rugby: Hawke’s Bay beat Otago to win Ranfurly Shield

The Ranfurly Shield returns to Hawke’s Bay, in eerily familiar circumstances.

A 28-9 victory over Otago made Hawke’s Bay the fourth team to own the Shield this season, and Otago’s tenure ended just seven days after they won the Shield against Taranaki.

His first defense was against Hawke’s Bay at Forsyth Barr Stadium, as it was in 2013. And, like in 2013, his defense was short-lived.

Seven years ago, Hawke’s Bay claimed a 20-19 victory to steal the Shield after Otago kept it alone for eight days. This time, it was a reign of just seven days, the second shortest in Shield’s history.

It was a well-deserved victory based on their performance in the second half, but Otago would have been scratching his head on how the visitors led at halftime.

Otago had most of the possession and on multiple occasions was dragged under the line, or stayed on top of it, before Hawke’s Bay struck just before halftime with a sweet passing move finished off by Lolagi Visinia to claim a surprise. 7-6 halftime advantage.

Folau Fakatava had helped spark that attempt, and after the interval he added his own piece of magic, cutting Otago’s defense to pieces with a labyrinthine singles run to extend his lead. A penalty from Josh Ioane kept Otago in touch, but that was the closest they had come, with Vilimoni Koroi sinning for knocking Caleb Makene into the air, before they were reduced to 13 men when Slade McDowall was ejected after his attempted entry. connected with the head of Jonah Lowe.

Attempts by Isaia Walker-Leawere and Kurt Baker sealed the deal, and Hawke’s Bay captain Ash Dixon credited his team’s fight in the first half – and a bit of luck – as the key to victory.

“I’m very excited, very excited, my kids couldn’t get here, but they’re probably more excited than I am. I’m really grateful and excited about the team ticker tonight,” Dixon said.

“To be honest, during the first half we were under pressure, for 38 minutes, we had a little stroke of luck and we managed to seize our opportunity. We fought hard and we were suffocated.

“We lost the break, sometimes our scrum was good, but we just fought as hard as we could and managed to get a couple of lucky strokes. That’s what happens in football, obviously very lucky, but I don’t think the score is It reflects how the game was, it was very tough out there. “

The victory also places Hawke’s Bay at the top of the Championship ladder, with both divisions contested after North Harbor pulled off a surprising upset over Tasman in the Premiership.

Harbor entered the match winless in three games, while Tasman had a perfect record, with three bonus point wins extending his unbeaten streak to 15 games, but an excellent performance, with 20 points from the first five Bryn Gatland, led to a 40-24 win.

Tasman’s defeat means there are no undefeated teams in the Miter 10 Cup, although they are still a point ahead in the Premiership standings ahead of Auckland and Waikato, who edged Southland 10-9 in an ugly clash at Invercagill.

Hawke’s Bay 28 (Visinia World, Sailing Sail, Isaiah Walker-Leawere, Kurt Baker tries; Lincoln McClutchie 2 cons, Caleb Makene 2 cons)
Otago 9 (Josh Ioane 3 pens)
HT: 7-6