Napier’s Khan Stevenson and Zach Forster celebrate after a try by Lockie Seerden against Hastings Boys’ High School. Photo / Connull Lang
One point was all that stood between Hastings Boys’ High School (HBHS) and a victory in Saturday’s third schoolboy Super 8 Rugby round.
Despite a late conversion, HBHS fell just short of victory after losing 28-27 against their longstanding neighbours and rivals, Napier Boys’ High School, who continue to hold bragging rights after their hard-fought 24-18 win in Napier last year.
After a fiercely contested 33 minutes in the second half, marked by a flurry of HBHS tries, the conversion left the scoreline nail-bitingly close in favour of Napier.
Hastings utilised the wind at their home ground to score the first goal after a turnover in the second minute of the first half.
But Napier managed to quickly claw back in front with a try from Luke Thomas just minutes later, with a string of tries to follow from Riley Mullany, George Prouting, and Lockie Seerden.
Napier led 21-3 at halftime, but Hastings launched a comeback and scored four tries in the second half thanks to Reed Paewi, Walter Kava, Elijah Talalupe and Raef Robinson.
Napier also accrued yellow cards and Hastings scored two of the tries while Napier were down to 13 players.
“We didn’t start the way that we wanted and probably came out a little bit flat, but I was proud of the way the boys responded in the second half and started to put some phases together,” HBHS team manager Jason Bird said.
He said these games were always nail-biters, and history had shown games had often come down to the wire.
“Irrespective of form leading into the game, they are always going to be tight, which makes for a great spectacle.”
Bird said that going forward, he wanted the team to finish the Super 8 strong before moving forward into the Hurricanes regional playoffs.
Napier Boys’ captain Prouting said he was proud of how his team fought despite adversity.
“We had to really dig deep there in the last 15 minutes with two people in the bin. I’m really proud of the performance,” he told Whakaata Māori.
“We just have to stick to our structure, trust each other and just hope our processes and everything work out.”
Napier coach Tai Te Rito said being proud of his boys was an understatement.
He said the team hadn’t really put a 70-minute performance together all pre-season and in the year to date, and it was exciting to see the team’s full potential on display.
“We prepped well for the week. We knew we were facing a big team, so we had to slow them down at the collision area in tackle and breakdown and be disruptive in that space.”
“Hastings are the good team, and I think we were always the underdogs and not many people would expect that result.”
Next Saturday, Napier plays Tauranga Boys’ College in Napier, and Hastings plays Gisborne Boys’ High School in Gisborne.
Meanwhile, in club rugby’s Maddison Trophy Premier round, Taradale beat Pirate 43-21, Marist triumphed over Havelock 38-26 and Napier Tech won 38-26 at home against Hastings.
