The key to Waikato's miraculous eight day run
Waikato have concluded a dream eight-day run by claiming their third consecutive win and first successful Ranfurly Shield defence of the season, edging Hawke’s Bay 42-22 at FMG Stadium Waikato on Thursday night.
Another spirited performance from Fijian flyer Sevu Reece ensured Waikato head into an eight-day break with the Ranfurly Shield in tow as Jono Gibbes’ men now sit first on the Mitre 10 Cup Championship table – a miracle turnaround after starting their season with three heartbreaking losses.
First Waikato fended off Premiership contenders Wellington 43-31 at home on Wednesday before toppling Taranaki 33-19 at Yarrow Stadium on Sunday to win the Shield for the 11th time in the union’s history.
Back in front of their home fans the Mooloos perhaps saved their best for last, running away victors in a six-tries-to-three onslaught against Hawke’s Bay to complete what once seemed an unfathomable task and pass their most grueling test of the season with flying colours.
The home side held the visitors, led by former Mooloo man Brad Weber, to just one try in the second half to keep the famous Shield locked away and avoid the dubious title of shortest Shield tenure after an inspired 80-minute effort.
It was Hawke’s Bay who jumped out to an early lead through the aforementioned Weber – hellbent on winning the Shield back for his new province – less than five minutes into the match after the diminutive halfback sliced past three would-be defenders on his way to the line.
It looked like the fatigue stemming from the two previous matches was beginning to show, but Waikato answered shortly after through captain Dwayne Sweeney and never looked back.
Connacht-bound Reece turned the game when he scooped up an overthrown lineout ball and scampered away to score before setting up a Jordan Manihera try to close out the half.
Waikato carried a 21-15 lead into the sheds and turned up the heat once they re-emerged. Reece and 18-year-old midfielder Quinn Tupaea were involved in everything as the home side added three more tries to their tally. New signings Jack Stratton and Fletcher Smith continue to find their feet with their new province as well, with the latter grabbing his first tri-colour try late in the second half to complement a flawless display off the tee.
Waikato outclassed Hawkes Bay in almost every statistical category, chalking up 588 metres with ball in hand, making 24 clean breaks and missing 19 tackles over an impressive 80 minutes. Hawke’s Bay put up figures of 280, six and 35 in the same respective categories.
The key to Waikato’s run has been their emergence as a potent attacking force. Conceding an average of 26 points per game during their winning run meant the attack had to be firing on all cylinders. Over the eight-day span Waikato outscored their opponents 118-72 and put 17 tries on the board, four of which belonged to Duane Monkley Medal leader Reece.
Reece said the Shield – long regarded as one of New Zealand rugby’s greatest rewards – has provided Waikato with an extra boost as they continue to turn their fortunes.
“The short turnaround for us, the Shield has been driving us so much because not everyone gets to play Shield games. We’re so privileged to be playing,” said Reece.
“Trying to fight for the Shield against Naki, we managed to win that, now it’s just defending that and that’s what we did.”
Reece also shrugged off the role fatigue has played during the whirlwind week.
“Everyone’s fatigued but it’s what we do. We’re here to play rugby. It’s our job, so get all the recovery done, tick all of those little boxes and we’re good to go,” Reece said.
“We played Wellington, then Naki. We just set a really good foundation from all that.
“Today we got the result.”
As for personal performance, Reece remains humble. His five total tries currently lead the competition. He picked up three against Wellington and managed a try assist against Taranaki despite limited involvement.
“I just try my best every week to stick to the structure and hopefully get those extra tries coming in. It’s a pretty good feeling,” Reece said.
Assistant coach, former All Black and Waikato winger Roger Randle expressed his pride in the young side after the match.
“Just really proud of 15 points in three games against some really quality opposition. Just so proud of our young group getting some rewards over preparation and what genuine preparation is,” Randle said.
“I think it’s been outstanding. Just as a young group it’s been a big step forward in their short semi-professional careers. We do have a lot of club players and we’re fighting up against a lot of Super guys, but we’re punching above our weight consistently. It’s just good for them to get some positive outcomes.”
Randle also spoke of the expectation that comes with holding the storied Ranfurly Shield.
“It was a different feeling going out and challenging for it [the Shield] and then today there was a definite edge around expectation. I think Hawke’s Bay started really well and put us under a lot of pressure and our set-piece didn’t function as well as we could but to get six converted tries, hang in there and run over the top of them in the second half with the quality of our bench which was really pleasing.”
Waikato will now get a breather as they have an eight-day wait for their next match, a conference clash with Bay of Plenty in Rotorua.
“I think it’s important that we’ve got an eight-day turnaround, and we don’t make that a six-day turnaround by letting ourselves down over the next couple of days,” Randle said. “It’s important we enjoy each other’s company tonight with our family and then recover well tomorrow and get a genuine week’s preparation.”
Waikato will next put up the Shield when they host Southland in two weeks’ time. If they can keep up performances like those seen this week, they may not be letting it go anytime soon.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments