Magpies end Wellington's unbeaten run

Editor

Hawke's Bay caused the biggest upset of the ITM Cup season when they beat Wellington 35-24 in Napier on Thursday.

Hawke's Bay caused the biggest upset of the ITM Cup season when they beat previously unbeaten Wellington 35-24 in Napier on Thursday.

A superb individual try from Ihaia West in the 75th minute secured victory for the Magpies who dominated proceedings from the outset.

After receiving the ball from a scrum, just inside Wellington's half, West caught three Wellington defenders by surprise with a deft side-step before outpacing the cover defence to score under the posts.

Earlier, the Championship side raced into a 17-0 by the 20th minute lead thanks to a penalty from West and converted tries by Zac Guildford and Andrew Horrell.

Wellington responded with tries from their captain,Victor Vito, and Mark Reddish which Lima Sopoaga converted but West added two further penatlies which gave Hawke's Bay a 23-14 lead at the change-over.

The Lions got the second-half off to a flying start when Afa Fa'atau rounded off after Jeffery Toomaga-Allen tore the home side's defence to shreds with an impressive break in the build-up.

Sopoaga added the extras and gave Wellington the lead, for the fist time, when he succeeded with a penalty in the 61st minute. That was the last time the visitors would score points as Adam Bradey scored the home side's third try, from close quarters, shortly afterwards before West secured victory with his memorable try.

The scorers:

For Hawke's Bay:
Tries: Guildford, Horrell, Bradey, West
Cons: West 3
Pens: West 3

For Wellington:
Tries: Vito, Reddish, Fa'atau
Cons: Sopoaga 3
Pens: Sopoaga

Hawke's Bay: 15 Zac Guildford, 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Richard Buckman, 12 Andrew Horrell, 11 Mikey Vuicakau, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Karl Lowe, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Mike Coman (c), 5 Mark Abbott, 4 Michael Allardice, 3 Brendon Edmonds, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Max Lahiff.
Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 Adrian Barone, 18 Trent Bosswell-Wakefield, 19 Mark Atkins, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Adam Bradey, 22 Penikolo Latu.

Wellington: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Joe Hil, 13 Tim Bateman, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Tomasi Palu, 8 Victor Vito (capt), 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Kaipati Gaualofa, 4 Mark Reddish, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Motu Matu'u, 1 Reggie Goodes.
Replacements: 16 John Schwalger, 17 Eric Sione, 18 Api Naikatini, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Genesis Mamea, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Afa Fa'atau.

Referee: Glen Jackson