Well, here is the review of the Championship & Premiership final of this year's Mitre 10 Cup season but 1st here is the news report of the Championship final being played at Westpac Stadium in the nation's capital of Wellington between Wellington & Bay Of Plenty:
Wellington have claimed their first final victory since 2000 with a scarcely believable 59-45 extra-time victory over Bay of Plenty in the Championship final at Westpac Stadium.
Nothing could separate the sides after a thrilling 80 minutes with the scores locked up 40-40. But Wellington were too good in extra time with a rampaging Julian Savea try securing the win and their place back in the Premiership for the first time since 2014.
Although Wellington went into the game as heavy favourites, it didn’t take long for the Westpac Stadium faithful to realise they had a contest on their hands. The Steamers made all the running early in the first half to push out to a 14-5 lead on the back of two equally impressive tries.
The first was a genuine team effort finished by halfback Luke Campbell while the second was all down to the individual brilliance of Joe Webber. The sevens star fielded an aimless kick from the Lions on halfway and beat three defenders with pace and power to put the Steamers ahead by nine points.
But you cannot afford to let your guard down against this Lions side. Led by their rampaging forward pack, the Lions began to punch holes through the middle of the Steamers defence and tries to lock Sam Lousi and prop Tolu Fahamokioa helped the Lions to a 20-14 lead at the break.
It took the Lions just 14 seconds to get on the board in the second half when captain Brad Shields scored from a charge down to make it 25-14. A penalty to Jackson Garden-Bachop moments later extended the lead to 28-14 and the Steamers could have easily folded against a Wellington side that has looked near-on unbeatable in 2017.
But this Steamers team is made of sterner stuff. An intercept try to Canadian international Tyler Ardron was quickly followed by another stunning solo effort by Joe Webber to make it 28-28.
From there the game entered the Twilight Zone with the teams trading tries to make it 40-40 with time up on the clock. Wellington had the chance to claim the title when Jackson Garden-Bachop stepped up for a long-range shot at goal. Normally reliable with the boot, Garden-Bachop’s attempt went wide to send the game into extra time.
Playing an extra 20 minutes was always going to be a war of attrition and the Lions looked the more fitter and composed team in extra time. Tries to Wes Goosen and replacement hooker Sitiveni Paongo made it 52-40 to the Lions at the end of the first half of extra time.
When Julian Savea bumped off two defenders to score early in the second half of extra-time, the lead was out to 59-40 and the Championship title well in their sights.
Bay of Plenty didn’t give up throughout the entire 100 minutes and had the final say with a try to Mitchell Karpik to make the final score 59-45.
In the end it was to be Wellington’s night in a final that will go down as one of the greats.
Wellington captain Brad Shields said: “It’s been a couple of tough years. I want to commend Bay of Plenty – that was a hell of a match and the way finals should be played. I’m happy with the way the boys have put their hands up and played for the jersey this season. It’s very special to know we will be back up in the Premiership.”
Scorers: Wellington 59 (Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Sam Lousi, Tolu Fahamokioa 2, Brad Shields, Wes Goosen, Sitiveni Paongo, Julian Savea tries, Jackson Garden-Bachop 2 pen, 4 con) Bay of Plenty 45 (Luke Campbell, Joe Webber 2, Tyler Ardron, Jesse Parete, Terrence Hepetema, Mitchell Karpik tries, Mike Delany 4 con)
HT: 20-14
And it was a day later that Canterbury host the Premiership final against Tasman at AMI Stadium in Christchurch with another news report:
A Richie Mo’unga-inspired Canterbury has outclassed Tasman 35-13 to lift their ninth Mitre 10 Cup Premiership title in 10 seasons at AMI Stadium on Saturday night.
In the 2016 Premiership final between the same sides, it was Mo’unga who starred with two tries and he was even more influential tonight with a record 25 point haul for a Mitre 10 Cup Premiership final.
Canterbury completely shut out Tasman 39-0 when they met in round one, but it didn’t take long to see this clash would be a lot closer as the Makos took the game to the reigning champions in the opening quarter.
Playing with high energy and enthusiasm, Tasman had Canterbury on the back foot and opened the scoring in the 10th minute when powerful midfielder Levi Aumua finished off a brilliant interchange of passing.
A Mitchell Hunt penalty soon after stretched Tasman out to a 10-0 lead – a fair reflection of their early dominance.
Enter Richie Mo’unga. The classy first five-eighth missed last week’s semifinal due to being assembled with the All Blacks but stunned Tasman with two brilliant individual tries in the space of five minutes.
In the first, he beat two defenders down the short side to put Canterbury on the board. The second was a spectacular 50 metre effort where he completely bamboozled the Tasman defence to put Canterbury out in front for the first time.
With regular front rowers Tim Perry and Kane Hames with the All Blacks Northern Tour squad, Tasman struggled upfront and Canterbury took advantage on the stroke of halftime.
Opting for a lineout instead of a shot at goal, Canterbury struck on a vital blow on Tasman as Tim Bateman crossed to put Canterbury out to a 19-13 halftime lead.
Canterbury dominated possession in the second half but struggled to cross the line as the Makos defence remained resolute. The pressure told on the scoreboard through Richie Mo’unga penalties in the 42nd, 55th and 64th minute to put the home side out to a 28-13 lead with 15 minutes to play.
Tasman looked to stretch the ball wide to the exciting pair of James Lowe and Will Jordan in the closing stages but the Canterbury defence was equal to the task and was not willing to offer Tasman a route back into the contest.
Fittingly it was Mo’unga who orchestrated Canterbury’s only second half try when he put Jack Stratton over to confirm Canterbury as the best team in New Zealand for another season.
Scorers: Canterbury 35 (Tim Bateman, Jack Stratton tries, Richie Mo’unga 2 tries, 3 con, 3 pen) Tasman 13 (Levi Aumua tries, Mitchell Hunt con, pen)
HT: 19-13
So that is my 160th blog of the year 2017 (MMXVII) & my 80th this year (Only 40 blogs until I reach 200).
P.S. And don't forget, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari is on pole for the Mexican Grand Prix with Red Bull's Max Verstappen starting on the front row while championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes will start in 3rd ensuring that he must finish in the top 5 to claim his 4th Formula 1 World Championship while Kiwi Brendon Hartley (Well he exactly hails from Palmerston North in the Manawatu region but he's a bit like Stephen Donald because he didn't have to go whitebaiting but he retired during the race) in the Toro Rosso is expected to start in 13th but in the end, the race was won by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull but the title goes to Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes after finishing 9th in the race (All he has to do that Vettel must finish 2nd or above to keep his championship hopes alive but Hamilton clashed both Verstappen & Vettel on the 1st lap) meaning that he becomes the most successful British Formula 1 driver in history to become the 4 time Formula 1 world champion because he joined the likes of both Frenchman Alain Prost & German Sebastian Vettel so he 1st did it in 2008 6 years before winning it again in 2014 & retaining it a year later in 2015 2 years before he clinched the title this year in 2017.
And I like to pay tribute, to the list of Formula 1 world champions spanning from 1950 - 2017
1950: Giuseppe Farina
1951: Juan Manuel Fangio
1952: Alberto Ascari
1953: Alberto Ascari
1954: Juan Manuel Fangio
1955: Juan Manuel Fangio
1956: Juan Manuel Fangio
1957: Juan Manuel Fangio
1958: Mike Hawthorn
1959: Jack Brabham
1960: Jack Brabham
1961: Phil Hill
1962: Graham Hill
1963: Jim Clark
1964: John Surtees
1965: Jim Clark
1966: Jack Brabham
1967: Denny Hulme
1968: Graham Hill
1969: Jackie Stewart
1970: Jochen Rindt
1971: Jackie Stewart
1972: Emerson Fittipaldi
1973: Jackie Stewart
1974: Emerson Fittipaldi
1975: Niki Lauda
1976: James Hunt
1977: Niki Lauda
1978: Mario Andretti
1979: Jody Scheckter
1980: Alan Jones
1981: Nelson Piquet
1982: Keke Rosberg
1983: Nelson Piquet
1984: Niki Lauda
1985: Alain Prost
1986: Alain Prost
1987: Nelson Piquet
1988: Ayrton Senna
1989: Alain Prost
1990: Ayrton Senna
1991: Ayrton Senna
1992: Nigel Mansell
1993: Alain Prost
1994: Michael Schumacher
1995: Michael Schumacher
1996: Damon Hill
1997: Jacques Villeneuve
1998: Mika Hakkinen
1999: Mika Hakkinen
2000: Michael Schumacher
2001: Michael Schumacher
2002: Michael Schumacher
2003: Michael Schumacher
2004: Michael Schumacher
2005: Fernando Alonso
2006: Fernando Alonso
2007: Kimi Raikkonen
2008: Lewis Hamilton
2009: Jenson Button
2010: Sebastian Vettel
2011: Sebastian Vettel
2012: Sebastian Vettel
2013: Sebastian Vettel
2014: Lewis Hamilton
2015: Lewis Hamilton
2016: Nico Rosberg
& 2017: Lewis Hamilton
And finally we did it! Not only because Wanganui retained the Meads Cup for the 3rd consecutive year (It's the 6th time we have won the Meads Cup because we 1st did it in 2008 then a year later in 2009 2 years before we went on to win it in 2011 then 4 years later in 2015 a year before we retained it last year in 2016 before winning it this year in 2017) because we managed to beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 30 - 14 in the Meads Cup final of the 2017 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship at Levin Domain in Levin (And winger Cameron Crowley (Who was the 2008 Heartland Championship player of the year) was that star of the game setting up several tries as well as scoring one).
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