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Watch: The last-minute try that booked Bay of Plenty’s place in NPC semis

Bay of Plenty Steamers celebrating winning the Bunnings Warehouse NPC Quarter Final match between Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay at Tauranga Domain, on October 12, 2024, in Tauranga, New Zealand. (Photo by Mead Norton/Getty Images)

Bay of Plenty are through to the NPC semi-finals after a dramatic last-minute try saw them beat Hawke’s Bay 19-17 in Tauranga. Replacement Taine Kolose was the hero for the hosts as the crowd burst into a wild celebration with time almost up on the clock.

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Former All Blacks Sevens ace Leroy Carter opened the scoring for the Steamers in the seventh minute, with the successful conversion giving them an early seven-nil advantage. But, the opening term was all the Magpies from there as far as points are concerned.

Fullback Harry Godfrey converted his own try to level the scores midway through the first half, and a try to hooker Tyrone Thompson saw the visitors take the lead before the break. It was a nervy match up to that point – setting the tone for what was to come.

In an all-time classic NPC knockout clash, Bay of Plenty snatched back the lead with a penalty try just a few minutes after the break. Prop Joel Hintz was also set the sin bin which saw the visitors drop down to 14 men for the next 10 minutes.

But, Hawke’s Bay were actually the next to score, although it didn’t come right away. Replacement hooker Jacob Devery scored with 12 minutes to go, and that would’ve left the away fans daring to dream as the visitors regained the lead.

Time wasn’t on the Steamers’ side, but they didn’t panic. After a kick for the corner, Bay of Plenty set up for one final attack at Hawke’s Bay’s try line with a maul. They quickly pushed ahead towards the try line, with some backs even coming in to support.

Then, a try was awarded.

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“One minute to play, a try will put them into the semi-finals,” commentator Beaven Dewar said on the Sky Sport NZ broadcast.

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“Going good at the moment, going good, going good, scoring! Yes! Bay of Plenty dot down and score.

Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
0
3
Tries
3
1
Conversions
1
0
Drop Goals
0
134
Carries
105
2
Line Breaks
5
15
Turnovers Lost
19
8
Turnovers Won
9

Mils Muliaina added: “They were really patient about it, too. I’m not too sure who got it down… nice and steady, a few of the backs decide to come in and help and I tell you what, so did the crowd – they got in behind it too.”

It wasn’t clear who had scored, but that didn’t matter – Bay of Plenty were all but through to the semi-finals. Players began to celebrate, with lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi seemingly walking towards the fans in a moment of passion, relief, and celebration.

There was still a restart left, though, and it was that man Ah Kuoi who rose highest to claim the ball. With that, all Bay of Plenty had to do was kick the ball into touch – and that’s exactly what they did as they claimed victory in the famed Battle of the Bays.

“I wasn’t ready for that,” captain Kurt Eklund said post-game. “Mate, down to the wire. Pretty ugly but we’ll learn a lot from that and hopefully we get a couple more weeks out of it.

“That’s sometimes all it takes it that one opportunity and it’s pretty windy out here, hard for us hookers.”

Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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Flankly 1 hour ago
Four talking points after a 'bonkers' England loss to Australia

On the face of it the England rush defence seemed to be worse this week than last. I thought the line speed last week was very effective against NZ, and that the NZ tries had to be very well worked to get around or through. But in fact the apparent deterioration of the England defence may have been more about Schmidt learning from the NZ game. Australia were quick about getting the ball outside of the midfield defenders, and England struggled to cover it effectively. Suaailii was a key element of this. The Boks are going to test this next week, and if England don't address it we should see some Bok tries out wide.


The England attack was as expected, ie fairly ineffective, per last week. Smith is the exception. His magic was behind almost everything England did on attack. While it's great for England to have a player like this, the question is what will happen when an opponent targets him to minimize his impact. Can England win a game with their Plan B? We saw what happened in the 2019 RWC final when the Boks shut down George Ford.


More of a surprise was the England forward pack. This ought to be the area in which Bothwick excels. It is a traditional England strength, and Borthwick was a forward himself. And there is a lot of experience in that pack. So I thought Australia might be overwhelmed up front. But that's not really what happened. It's not obvious that the England pack is any more than average at the moment.


My conclusion this week is similar to last, namely that England has not solved its coaching problem. It looks very different for NZ and Australia - they both have coaching results that are looking quite good.

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