RUA Tipoki rolled back the years and inspired Pirates to a thoroughly deserved come-from-behind 26-14 win against premier championship leaders YMP at Barry Park on Saturday.
The 36-year-old was all class, beating players inside and out, creating gaps for team-mates, producing copybook tackles and breaking YMP hearts with pin-point left-foot wipers kicks deep into the corners.
But the Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates skipper and second five-eighth would be the first to admit this was far from a one-man show.
The Pirates pack — front rowers Anthony Kiwara, Jody Tuhaka and Tom Miki, locks Willie Waitoa and Simon Versteeg and loose forwards Ben Elliott, Pana Hadfield and Karl Gemmell-Clark — started the game with a hiss and a roar, went off the boil for a period in the first half then dominated the second spell.
Waitoa and Versteeg, in particular, were outstanding.
After trying to run the ball wide too early in the game, the backline of halfback Daniel Harris, first five-eighth Duane Hihi, Tipoki, centre Abby Wawatai and wingers Ratu Bishop and Carl Riini and replacements contributed to a great advertisement for premier rugby.
Down 14-11 with 12 minutes remaining, Pirates hit back with two tries to Riini.
The first came in the 75th minute after a strong run up the middle by replacement flanker Willie Bollingford, who, in the tackle, passed to Tipoki, who drew the last man to set up Riini.
Dean Williams missed the conversion but made amends when Riini sealed the win with another five-pointer on the stroke of fulltime.
Tipoki and Williams launched a counter-attack from deep inside their half. Riini kicked ahead and outpaced the defenders to score in the corner.
Harris put up his hand for the Poverty Bay squad to face Ngati Porou East Coast here on June 4 with another lively 80 minutes.
Not far behind man of the match Tipoki were Versteeg, who took over the locking role from the suspended Juston Allen, Waitoa, Williams and Riini, who gets better with every game.
“They all played well but so did the rest of the boys,” Pirates coach Henry Maxwell said.
“Simon has been a soldier for us all season. He’s got to be in contention for a place in the Bay squad. They all had a job to do and stuck to it for the 80 minutes. Even when we were behind, they stuck to the game plan.”
Pirates hit the front after only two minutes when Tipoki placed a perfectly weighted crossfield kick into right-winger Bishop’s hands and he made no mistake. YMP closed the gap with a Willie Brown penalty three minutes later then took the lead through a try to left-winger Ratu Vosaki, who kicked ahead and won the race.
Brown missed the conversion but stretched the gap to six with his second penalty as YMP went to the break 11-5 up.
“With the breeze at our backs for the last 40 minutes we wanted to play the game in their half and it worked,” Maxwell said.
Williams reduced the deficit with a penalty in the 56th minute and levelled the score with another penalty in the 60th as Pirates stormed back, with Tipoki dictating play.
YMP are not the defending champions for nothing and regained the lead through another Brown penalty after 68 minutes before Riini settled the issue.
YMP hooker Lloyd Gabriel made some good runs after coming on for the second half.
Reihana Wyllie and brothers Efoti and Richard Moimoi had their moments but, as coach Dollar Maxwell said, “we didn’t play as a team enough to deserve to win”.
“Pirates stepped up in the last 40 and we didn’t respond. They played with a lot of structure; we didn’t. They knew the way they wanted to play and even when we worked it out they were able to change tactics.
“One minute they were running the ball out of defence then, when we expected them to do that, they kicked. We have no complaints.”
PIRATES 26 (Carl Riini 2, Ratu Bishop tries; Dean Williams con, 3 pen).
YMP 14 (Ratu Vosaki try; Willie Brown 3 pen).
HT: 11-5 (YMP).
The 36-year-old was all class, beating players inside and out, creating gaps for team-mates, producing copybook tackles and breaking YMP hearts with pin-point left-foot wipers kicks deep into the corners.
But the Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates skipper and second five-eighth would be the first to admit this was far from a one-man show.
The Pirates pack — front rowers Anthony Kiwara, Jody Tuhaka and Tom Miki, locks Willie Waitoa and Simon Versteeg and loose forwards Ben Elliott, Pana Hadfield and Karl Gemmell-Clark — started the game with a hiss and a roar, went off the boil for a period in the first half then dominated the second spell.
Waitoa and Versteeg, in particular, were outstanding.
After trying to run the ball wide too early in the game, the backline of halfback Daniel Harris, first five-eighth Duane Hihi, Tipoki, centre Abby Wawatai and wingers Ratu Bishop and Carl Riini and replacements contributed to a great advertisement for premier rugby.
Down 14-11 with 12 minutes remaining, Pirates hit back with two tries to Riini.
The first came in the 75th minute after a strong run up the middle by replacement flanker Willie Bollingford, who, in the tackle, passed to Tipoki, who drew the last man to set up Riini.
Dean Williams missed the conversion but made amends when Riini sealed the win with another five-pointer on the stroke of fulltime.
Tipoki and Williams launched a counter-attack from deep inside their half. Riini kicked ahead and outpaced the defenders to score in the corner.
Harris put up his hand for the Poverty Bay squad to face Ngati Porou East Coast here on June 4 with another lively 80 minutes.
Not far behind man of the match Tipoki were Versteeg, who took over the locking role from the suspended Juston Allen, Waitoa, Williams and Riini, who gets better with every game.
“They all played well but so did the rest of the boys,” Pirates coach Henry Maxwell said.
“Simon has been a soldier for us all season. He’s got to be in contention for a place in the Bay squad. They all had a job to do and stuck to it for the 80 minutes. Even when we were behind, they stuck to the game plan.”
Pirates hit the front after only two minutes when Tipoki placed a perfectly weighted crossfield kick into right-winger Bishop’s hands and he made no mistake. YMP closed the gap with a Willie Brown penalty three minutes later then took the lead through a try to left-winger Ratu Vosaki, who kicked ahead and won the race.
Brown missed the conversion but stretched the gap to six with his second penalty as YMP went to the break 11-5 up.
“With the breeze at our backs for the last 40 minutes we wanted to play the game in their half and it worked,” Maxwell said.
Williams reduced the deficit with a penalty in the 56th minute and levelled the score with another penalty in the 60th as Pirates stormed back, with Tipoki dictating play.
YMP are not the defending champions for nothing and regained the lead through another Brown penalty after 68 minutes before Riini settled the issue.
YMP hooker Lloyd Gabriel made some good runs after coming on for the second half.
Reihana Wyllie and brothers Efoti and Richard Moimoi had their moments but, as coach Dollar Maxwell said, “we didn’t play as a team enough to deserve to win”.
“Pirates stepped up in the last 40 and we didn’t respond. They played with a lot of structure; we didn’t. They knew the way they wanted to play and even when we worked it out they were able to change tactics.
“One minute they were running the ball out of defence then, when we expected them to do that, they kicked. We have no complaints.”
PIRATES 26 (Carl Riini 2, Ratu Bishop tries; Dean Williams con, 3 pen).
YMP 14 (Ratu Vosaki try; Willie Brown 3 pen).
HT: 11-5 (YMP).
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