Magpies strike at Waikato again

Deja vu: Hawke's Bay repeat their efforts of last year by knocking out Waikato

Hawke's Bay's curse of Waikato continued unabated in Napier on Sunday, as the Magpies roared into a 28-0 lead in the Air New Zealand Cup before fending off a spirited fightback to claim a semi-final spot with a 31-28 win.

It was the fourth consecutive time the Magpies have beaten the Mooloo men, and it earns them a shot at a final place against Canterbury in Christchurch next week.

Wing Zac Guildford struck first for Hawke's Bay, finding a gap to use his pace through after his forward pack rumbled its way into an ideal attacking situation.

The seven points was soon made 14 for the home side when hooker Hika Elliot found his way through the defence before passing to man of the match Jason Shoemark. Shoemark made light work of the last defender.

With the Magpies pack dominating, any Waikato movement was stumped by handling errors made under pressure, and then Israel Dagg sliced through the defence before passing inside to openside flanker Karl Lowe who dotted down underneath the black dot.

Hawke's Bay were able to strike once more before the end of the half although it was on the back of a blatant forward pass from Berquist to Shoemark who ended up scoring the try on the half-time whistle, Berquist converting for a 28-0 lead.

Waikato opened up the second half in exactly the right way when centre Richard Kahui found his way through a gap before passing to wing Sitiveni Sivivatu who then flicked a wonderful pass behind his back to Jackson Willison for the try. Fly-half Callum Bruce slotted the extra two.

It took 10 minutes before Waikato were able to strike again when Sivivatu stepped through three Hawke's bay defenders to score the visitors' second with Bruce converting again.

Magpies' prop Faka'anaua Taumalolo was sin-binned after he was caught infringing in a ruck, and Waikato's catch-up continued when they scored again, Bruce popping up a beautiful pass to captain Toby Lynn who drew two defenders before sending it to openside Tom Harding who scored the try.

Bruce's conversion brought the score to 28-21 with 18 minutes left to play in what was becoming a thrilling quarter-final clash.

Berquist was able to extend the lead put to 10 points when he nailed a sideline penalty kick in the 65th minute.

But Waikato soon found their way back over the tryline through Kahui after the Mooloo forwards stepped up and really took it to the Magpies, allowing the backs to do their thing.

But Hawke's Bay held on, and could have had another score. They will need two first halves against the Cantabs though.

The scorers:

For Hawke's Bay:

Tries: Shoemark 2, Guildford, Lowe

Cons: Berquist 4

Pen: Berquist

For Waikato:

Tries: Willison, Sivivatu, Harding, Kahui

Cons: Bruce 4

Hawke's Bay: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Jason Kupa, 13 Jason Shoemark, 12 Sam Giddens, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Matt Berquist, 9 Danny Lee (captain), 8 George Naoupu, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Michael Johnson, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 Johan Snyman, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Hikawera Elliott, 1 Faka'anaua Taumalolo.

Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Josh Keys, 18 Matt Egan, 19 Pama Petia, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Daniel Waenga, 22 Aayden Clarke.

Waikato: 1 Hikairo Forbes, 2 Oli Avei, 3 Aled de Malmanche, 4 Toby Lynn (captain), 5 Romana Graham, 6 Faifili Levave, 7 Tom Harding, 8 Sione Lauaki, 9 David Bason, 10 Callum Bruce, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 12 Jackson Willison, 13 Richard Kahui, 14 Sosene Anesi, 15 Mils Muliaina.

Replacements: 16 Vern Kamo, 17 Toby Smith, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Matt Blain, 20 Malcolm Barnes, 21 Dwayne Sweeney, 22 Tim Mikkelson.

Referee: Vinny Munro

Touch judges: Chris Pollock, Brent Murray

TMO: Josh Noonan