Mitre 10 Cup Plays of the Week - Round Four
Round Four of the Mitre 10 Cup was full of close encounters and exciting results, with two games decided by less than a try, two undefeated teams meeting at the top of the table and the Ranfurly Shield changing hands.
Here are a few of the highlights from the provincial action.
Patrick Tuipulotu’s Hat-Trick vs Tasman
Auckland lock Patrick Tuipulotu made a statement on his return to rugby.
In his first appearance since May, Tuipulotu put in an impressive 65-minute shift in the blue and white hoops, picking up a stunning hat-trick against the undefeated Tasman Mako.
The towering lock first crashed over from short range in the 27th minute, then scored his second just four minutes later after scooping up a Harry Plummer cross-field kick, shrugging off a pair of would-be defenders and cruising 45 metres to cross under the posts. The 25-year-old rounded off his performance by busting over again from close range to score a third try right before teams went to the sheds.
After All Black Brodie Retallick injured his shoulder against Argentina the next night, Tuipulotu was recalled into the national side.
Etene Nanai-Seturo’s Electric Feet
Sevens star Etene Nanai-Seturo made his first appearance for Counties Manukau on Sunday and he did not disappoint.
The impressive 19-year-old left Southland prop Chris Apoua grasping at air with a wicked left-footed step.
Commentator Ian Jones likened the step to that of former All Black Glen Osborne as Counties ran out winners 43-26.
Brad Weber Starts And Finishes Bay Stunner
Chiefs halfback Brad Weber was instrumental in Hawkes Bay’s one-point home victory over Bay of Plenty, a battle to earn the title of ‘the real Bay’.
Weber led a second-half charge as he picked up two tries in two minutes.
First crossing the line after an 8-9 from the back of a scrum and scampering 15 metres for a score, Weber struck once again when he put up a booming box kick for Jonah Lowe to chase.
Right winger Lowe regathered the ball and raced down the sideline, finding Weber in support to grab a brace.
Quick Hands Put Asafo Away
Barnstorming hooker Asafo Aumua is back to his best form with Wellington, finishing off a great team try in his side’s Round Four battle with North Harbour.
Quick hands from a mixture of forwards and backs saw the ball spread out to right wing and Hurricanes star Ben Lam. Lam dished to Aumua who had Shaun Stevenson to beat, and beat him he did as the All Black hooker trampled over the Harbour fullback to score.
Harbour Level The Score
Not to be outdone by Aumua’s efforts, the North Harbour backs linked to create one of the better tries this season.
Off a lineout just inside their own half, five-eighth Bryn Gatland dropped a perfect chip in for the aforementioned Stevenson to recover. The rangy fullback did so, spotted some space and toed a ball ahead for his winger Matt Duffie, who raced to the ball and planted it with little margin for error.
Ware Leaves Smith For Dead
While Taranaki had to hand over the Ranfurly Shield following their defeat against Waikato, one member of the home side still had something to smile about.
All Blacks Sevens star and former Waikato winger Regan Ware exacted some revenge on his former team, slicing through the defence for a spectacular score.
The Hamilton Boys’ High School product took advantage of some over-committed defenders and burst into a hole. Still with plenty of work to do, the 24-year-old hit Waikato five-eighth Fletcher Smith with a devastating in-out, leaving the defender clueless and with a pair of broken ankles.
MITRE 10 CUP RESULTS – ROUND FOUR
September 5
Waikato 43-31 Wellington
September 6
Canterbury 34-23 Manawatu
September 7
Otago 27-23 Northland
Auckland 36-10 Tasman
September 8
Southland 26-43 Counties Manukau
Hawke’s Bay 29-28 Bay of Plenty
September 9
Wellington 35-23 North Harbour
Taranaki 19-33 Waikato
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments