Northland down Hawke’s Bay by 43-34 in ITM Cup fixture - Rugby News
Northland secured a much needed victory over Hawke’s Bay to head forward into the final of the ITM Cup 2011. Northland is now requires just one point to book their berth for the final of ITM Cup. They downed the Bay side by 42-34 in Whangarei on August 24
with the help of six tries and left the opponents l*****g their wounds. Lachie Munro and Simon Munro played a vital role in their teams’ victory the duo elevated the northlanders with 23 points. Meanwhile, Bay also played up to the marks but the later part
of the game proved a real difference between the sides.
Both the squads were at their best since the starting whistle and made desperate attacks on each other’s goal lines. The match hung in the balance as neither of the teams was able to take a decisive lead until the end.
Hawkes Bay was looking stronger than the Northlanders with their tackles during the first-half but they lost their momentum during the second part of the match. Northland made repeated attempts to score early points in the match and was finally successful
in stealing a couple of tries from the rock solid defence of Bay.
Matt Wallis was the man for Northland to score two early tries in the first-half and later on he was assisted by Danny Mason with another well executed try for his side. Lachie Munro displayed an excellent show with his boots to convert the follow up shots
quite nicely.
On the other hand, Hawke’s Bay was helped by Brodie Retallick and Andrew Horrel, who scored one try each for their side to keep up appearances against Northland. The side fought a good first-half and kept the score in favour of the Northlanders with a slight
difference of 24-21. At one stage, Northland was leading by 17-3 but the Magpies bounced back in the match with good efforts.
The second part of the game continued with a quality game from both sides and Northland proved a little stronger than the Magpies in the end. Good work from Simon Munro helped Northland grab a hard fought victory over Hawke’s Bay by a comprehensive lead
of 43-34.
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