Waikato have suffered their second loss of the Bunnings NPC after going down 43-29 to North Harbour at North Harbour Stadium in Albany.

Taha Kemara opened the scoring for the afternoon when he was successful with a penalty shot at goal, after the home team was penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown. Waikato took the lead 3-0 after 22 minutes.

North Harbour answered right back with a try to Kade Banks in the right hand corner. Tane Edmed added the extra from the sideline and the home team took the lead 7-3 after 26 minutes.

Minutes later, Shaun Stevenson cut through the Waikato defence to score their second try of the match. Edmed was successful with the conversion to help extend their advantage to 11 points after 30 minutes.

Daniel Sinkinson showed some real speed to score Waikato’s first try with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Sinkinson was given the ball close to his right hand touchline but had the speed to beat the defender and score in the corner. Tepaea Cook-Savage was not successful with the conversion and North Harbour lead at the break 14-8.

In the second half, Edmed added 3 more points to the home team's score, when he was successful with a penalty shot at goal after Waikato were penalised at the breakdown right in front of their posts.

Waikato answered right back with a try to Josh Moorby. Bailyn Sullivan took the ball to the line, drew in the defenders and was able to Moorby in support and he raced away to score Waikato’s second try. Aaron Cruden added the extras and Waikato were back within 2 points of North Harbour.

But as soon as Waikato were back in striking distance, North harbour pushed the lead back to 7 points when Sofai Maka scored the third try for the home team. Edmed wasn’t successful with the conversion and the score remained at 22-15 after 53 minutes.

Waikato drew the game level approaching the midway point of the second half when George Dyer crossed for Waikato’s third try. Malachi Wrampling started the movement after a great offload to Sinkinson saw him glide down the sideline, drawing in the final defender. He passed the ball back inside to Dyer in support and he went over to score. Cruden added the extras and the game was all level at 22 all.

However North Harbour found another gear and between the 56th minute and 75th minutes Banks was able to score another three tries taking his tally to four tries for the day. Edmed converted all three tries and North Harbour had a commanding 43-22 lead with 5 minutes to play.

Waikato were awarded a penalty try with 2 minutes remaining. Waikato were hot on attack close to North Harbour’s line and Edmed slapped the ball down. The referee Paul Williams had no other choice but to award a penalty try and show a yellow card to Edmed for the foul.

But the damage had been done by North Harbour and they held on to win 43-29 and retain the Les Pearce Cup.  

North Harbour 43 (Kade Banks 4, Shaun Stevenson, Sofai Maka tries; Tane Edmed 5 conversions, 1 penalty)   

Waikato 29 (Daniel Sinkinson, Josh Moorby, George Dyer, Penalty tries; Taha Kemara 1 penalty, Aaron Cruden 2 conversions) 

HT: 14-08

Article added: Monday 26 August 2024