‘Walk off with our heads held high’: Counties Manukau’s fairytale run ends

Counties Manukau’s fairytale run in the 2025 NPC has come to an end, falling to Canterbury 23-15 in a 100-minute thriller on Sunday. The Steelers may have fallen short of their once unlikely premiership goal, but as lock Jimmy Tupou said, “we can walk off with our heads held high.”

After five matches to start the season, Counties were still searching for their first win. They had lost to Hawke’s Bay by 40 to start the campaign, before suffering defeats to Bay Of Plenty, Waikato in a one-point thriller, Otago and Taranaki.

In a 10-round regular season, the Steelers’ hopes of qualifying for the playoffs already seemed bleak, but there’s plenty of fight left in this team. Counties recovered from a 0-5 start to finish the round-robin on a five-match winning streak.

Counties defeated North Harbour, Southland, Auckland, Manawatu, and booked their place in the top eight with a final-round win against Tasman. That saw them make the trip down to Christchurch for the quarter-finals, taking on the minor premiers on Sunday afternoon.

After a run for the playoffs that required grit and resilience, the Steelers gave it their all in the pursuit of an upset. The scoreboard read 15-all the end of 80 minutes, before Canterbury booked their place in the semi-finals in extra-time.

“There’s a lot to be proud [of] there, man,” Tupou said on Sky Sport.

“We came here, we had the mentality to play like we have all season.

“I’m just super proud of this group.”

Gibson Popoali’i opened the scoring in the 17^th minute with a penalty goal, which saw Counties take a three-nil lead. Canterbury hit back through Jamie Hannah a few minutes later, before the visitors controlled the second quarter of the match.

Popoali’i scored a try in the 24^th minute, before NSW Waratahs-bound hooker Ioane Moananu added another five points to Counties’ lead. Counties took a 15-5 lead into the sheds at half-time, with Popoali’i converting the front-rower’s score.

Counties fans would’ve dared to dream at the break, but Canterbury fought their way back in the second term. Chay Fihaki scored five points off the goal-kicking tee, with former All Blacks midfielder Braydon Ennor crossing for a try to help level the scores.

No points were scored in the final 28 minutes of the half.

Fihaki was the hero for the Cantabrians in extra-time, with the outside back scoring a try and converting another penalty goal. Canterbury hung on for the win, but both teams threw everything at this quarter-final – making more than 270 tackles each.

“That’s a big part of the turnaround in our season and it’s something that we’re really proud of,” Tupou reflected when asked about the defensive effort.

“It’s just something we can hopefully build going forward to next season.

“Pretty disappointed mate but we can walk off with our heads held high.”

Otago will host Bay of Plenty in the first 2025 NPC semi-final on Friday. The Bay are hoping to go one better this season, having lost an extra-time showdown with the Wellington Lions in the 2024 NPC decider.

In the other semi-final, Canterbury hosts Hawke’s Bay at Christchurch’s Apollo Projects Stadium on Saturday evening.