Taranaki cling on to beat Hawke's Bay in tense NPC final

Even Neil Barnes will be smiling from cheek to cheek after that one.

But only after the hard-nosed Taranaki coach had to sit through some tense moments late in his team’s 22-19 win against Hawke’s Bay in Saturday’s NPC final in New Plymouth.

That included Stephen Perofeta missing a couple of shots at goal, and a missed touch finder as they clung on to a three-point lead.

The No 2 seeded Bulls also lost outstanding captain Kaylum Boshier to a nasty head knock for the final seven minutes, but stood firm to clinch a tense final in front of their energised fans.

Speaking of, a 13,500-strong sell-out crowd packed into a sun-drenched Yarrow Stadium and got what they came to see – Taranaki’s first title since 2014, and second overall.

“The first word that comes to mind is ‘special’. Seeing how much it means to this province, this community, us as a team. It's pretty special,” Taranaki pivot Josh Jacomb said.

In the process, Taranaki denied Hawke’s Bay, who last won at Yarrow Stadium 51 years ago, from becoming the 11th province to get their hands on the trophy.

The Magpies, desperate to finish a season tarnished by the controversy of the broken Ranfurly Shield, had one final chance with seconds remaining, only for the hosts to destroy their scrum.

Moments later, Perofeta booted the ball into touch, prompting euphoric punters to rush on to the field to join their team.

On the other hand, it was a brutal way for Magpies halfback Brad Weber, who also tasted defeat in the Super Rugby final, to finish his 50th game for his province, and his last before heading overseas.

“We will take the kudos today because we won the final, but I’m looking straight at Brad Weber at the moment, I love that man, would love to see him go away with it, but not tonight,” a chuffed Barnes said.

At least his final match was a memorable clash, one which featured just 12 penalties, included some quality tries, and was played with brutal intensity.

Both teams scored three tries, the pick of them the 48th minute peach Taranaki halfback Adam Lennox scored under the sticks.

Nine years after Jacomb watched Taranaki win their last crown at his father’s house in Auckland, it was Jacomb, 22, who sparked it, breaking out inside his own half and putting Perofeta into space.

The fullback then flicked a ball inside to Daniel Rona, who in turn put Lennox away.

But the Magpies, who had won five of six games when trailing at halftime this year, hit back through lock Geoff Cridge shortly after.

That would be it for the scoring, though, as both scrapped it out but failed to convert further opportunities.

The Magpies will look back and rue a couple of crunch moments, including Parsons getting held up by Tom Franklin over the line, and a Parsons knock-on a few metres out from the line.

Taranaki had blasted out of the gates like raging bulls, scoring the game’s opening try 70 seconds into the game, and adding another soon after to blow out to a 12-0 lead.

It was Jacomb who dished the final pass for both strikes, the first to centre Meihana Grindlay after going through a half gap, and the second to Rona.

There was a question mark surrounding Rona’s try out wide, with the Magpies appealing to referee Angus Mabey to have a closer look at what they believed was a Kini Naholo knock-on in the lead-up.

Hawke’s Bay didn’t get their way, but they soon worked their way back into the match after spending the opening quarter of their first game against Taranaki since 2021 firmly on the back foot.

In fact, only a Jacomb penalty goal after the halftime hooter denied them from heading into the sheds with a lead after they rode their dominant scrum to boss the rest of the opening half.

Twice they stitched more than 20 phases together and peppered the hosts’ line, before fullback Lolagi Visinia bashed his way through Jacomb’s tackle attempt to put his team on the board with 23 minutes up.

The big moment

Hawke’s Bay had their chances, none bigger than when they were peppering Taranaki’s line with seven minutes to play. However, Parsons coughed up the ball.

MVP

Take your pick. But Boshier, who made a crunch breakdown steal deep in his own half shortly before he was forced off hurt, was immense.

Match rating

9/10. A superb fixture to cap what was an entertaining and fiercely competitive NPC season.