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Another game, another heart-stopping victory, 5 wins in a row and now a trip to Christchurch for an NPC semi-final. There were many Bay fans up at North Harbour and I bet most of them had a sinking feeling for the first 20 minutes as we seemed unable to keep hold of the ball and conceded 2 penalties. Usually we have been fast starters this season and most of us in the stand were taking a pessimistic view, the old “I’ve got a bad feeling about this one!”. Things slowly got better though, culminating in the Bay surprising everyone by kicking for touch instead of goal. With a penalty awarded on the goal line, we went to the backs and as the Harbour backs drifted expecting our usual intricate midfield move, Jacko scooted through a gap and was over behind the posts. Suddenly we were ahead 7-6 and right in the game.
On the stroke of half-time, Jacko missed his second penalty of the game, both tricky kicks but his form has been so good this season that you can’t help expecting him to pot them. With the drizzle turning into rain, it promised to be a torrid second half and so it proved. The Harbour rolling maul troubled us all day and they were able to make big yards with it, luckily the slow ball meant they were always struggling to take advantage. Eventually it was a missed touch from Jacko that led to an offside (a decision that Mr Jackson took great exception to, as later heard on the TV replay) and we were down 9-7. We responded with our best spell of the game, pinning Harbour back and once again kicking for touch instead of goal. From a series of static rucks 5 yards out, Hubbard went for a scoot on the blindside and with 2 defenders closing in he managed a great pass out to the unmarked Tahana who not only scored the try but practically crawled towards the posts to make an easier conversion for Jacko to kick. 14-9 up but still 20 minutes left. For most of the rest of the game we defended, whether Harbour forwards or backs ran at us, we tackled ourselves to a standstill and any small breaks were instantly snuffed out by the cover defence. It was truly heroic and we in the stand wondered if we could hold out the whole game like this. The penalties came to Harbour but were turned down with the clock running down. With 3 minutes left Tahana broke out, Jacko kicked beautifully in behind and we were swamping their lone defender. We had to score a try but twice the pass went behind 3 players in support, it was manic. We lost the ball then Ormond turned it over and Tahana had a run to the corner, but McAlister pulled off a great saving tackle. A minute left and Harbour had the length of the pitch to go from a lineout. It was easy to hold them out, unlike Otago on Friday night who came out of the line for the intercept in a similar situation, we just made the tackles when necessary and waited for the mistake. It came, it was all over, and we celebrated wildly. We then realised just how many Bay fans were there, scattered all over the main stand and across on the open stand but still enough to raise a huge cheer at the final whistle. The initial elation of the players quickly changed to a look of exhaustion mixed with relief. Again it is difficult to single out any players from such a great team effort, but apart from the inexhaustible loose trio I think the threesome of Simpkins, Hubbard and Stewart deserve mention. None of them are automatic first choices, but despite some problems with throwing in at the lineout, Simpkins gets through a mountain of work and also is very quick to the breakdowns; Hubbard gets better and better and made the 2nd try while Stewart was a picture of steadiness at both wing and full-back. Only 2 defeats in our 9 games this season, a game one night in New Plymouth that I can’t recall and the narrow Shield loss to Canterbury. After that defeat, the expert view was that we would crumble – let’s hope the experts are as wrong again this weekend. |
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