Canterbury put 50 past Hawke’s Bay

Canterbury returned to the top of the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership table after claiming a deserved 53-10 win over Hawke’s Bay in Napier on Friday.

The champions were in a rampant mood, outscoring their hosts six tries to one with Marshall Suckling and Brayon Ennor both rewarded with a brace and Brett Cameron finished with a 23-point haul courtesy of a try, six conversions and two penalties.

The opening half was an even contest with Ihaia West giving the Magpies an early lead via a penalty before Cameron crossed for the opening try which he also converted.

He then slotted a penalty before Hugh Renton crossed for a converted try, but Cameron added another three-pointer off the tee which meant the visitors held a slender 13-10 lead at half-time.

It was one-way traffic after the interval with Suckling crossing first for his two tries before Ennor also dotted down twice which meant Canterbury had the game in the bag by the 65th minute with the score 39-10 in their favour.

The champions were then reduced to 14 men three minutes later when Nick Werahiko was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle. But that was hardly a setback as they delivered a strong finish and late tries from Josh McKay and Inga Finau sealed their victory.

The scorers:

For Hawke’s Bay:
Try: Renton
Con: West
Pen: West

For Canterbury:
Tries: Cameron, Suckling 2, Ennor 2, McKay, Finau
Cons: Cameron 6
Pens: Cameron 2
Yellow Card: Werahiko

Hawke’s Bay: 15 Tiaan Falcon, 14 Jonah Lowe, 13 Cardiff Vaega, 12 Richard Buckman, 11 Sam McNicol, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Chris Eaton, 8 Marino Mikaele Tu’u, 7 Fa’alemiga Selesele 6 Hugh Renton, 5 Geoff Cridge, 4 Michael Allardice, 3 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 2 Ash Dixon (c), 1 Jason Long
Replacements: 16 Jacob Devery, 17 Mark Braidwood, 18 Jarvy Aoake, 19 Nick Palmer, 20 Lucas Goodin, 21 Brad Webber, 22 Hayden Hann, 23 TJ Vaega

Canterbury: 15 George Bridge, 14 Marshall Suckling, 13 Tim Bateman,, 12 Rob Thompson, 11 Braydon Ennor, 10 Brett Cameron, 9 Jack Stratton, 8 Luke Whitelock (c), 7 Jed Brown, 6 Reed Prinsep, 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Mitchell Dunshea, 3 Oliver Jager, 2 Nathan Vella, 1 Alex Hodgman
Replacements: 16 Nick Werahiko, 17 Chris Gawler, 18 Siate Tokolahi, 19 Hamish Dalzell, 20 Billy Harmon, 21 Ere Enari, 22 Inga Finau, 23 Josh McKay

Referee: Cam Stone