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Poverty Bay sneaked into the Lochore Cup semi-finals with an eighth place finish despite losing their final round robin match to Buller. Poverty Bay always looked to play an expansive game and, from broken play in particular, were dangerous. They, and Wanganui, scored the most four-try bonus points in the round robin with six each. However, in their nine games they conceded 34 points or more in seven of them.

The season started off strongly with a win over defending champions Thames Valley. The match with eventual Heartland Champions North Otago was lost by conceding a try with four minutes left, and there were stirring fightbacks against Wairarapa Bush and Horowhenua Kapiti which both just fell short, coming back from 0–26 and 0–33 deficits respectively. In the semifinal Poverty Bay were down 14–41 before scoring three tries in the final five minutes to finish at 35–41, all examples of the side’s inconsistency within games.

Andrew Tauatevalu was always a threat with his pace and counter-attack, scoring six tries and kicking valuable goals, but his general play was inconsistent at times. Matt Raleigh on the wing had a good second season and was a strong defender. Tane McGuire was a useful utility back and Ethine Reeves was an elusive centre who distributed well to players in support. Poverty Bay are fortunate to have two well performing halfbacks in Willie Grogan and Mario Counsell.

Beaudein Waaka was an unexpected arrival from Sydney having played for Manly in the Shute Shield competition. The former Taranaki and NZ Sevens rep produced a classy performance in each of the four matches he played, scoring six tries. He had debuted for the province in 2012 while still at school.

Poverty Bay fielded a couple of outstanding flankers in Adrian Wyrill and Quade Tapsell. Wyrill was a strong carrier of the ball and quick to the breakdown. Tapsell, not picked by Waikato due to missing much of the club season, obtained a lot of possession at the back of the lineout, and showed pace around the field. Their work rate around the field was immense. Having appeared in the front row in the last couple of seasons, Tamanui Hill returned to number eight. Although not tall, he added to the loose forward effort with determined ball carrying.

A most promising player emerged in 21-year-old Gabe Te Kani who looked an athletic and strong lock. Captain Ken Houkamau was a solid grafter and retired after the last match. Hooker Rikki Terekia did his core jobs competently and got around the field well to score five tries. Prop Semisi Akana had his best season in the scarlet jersey.

Former Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu loose forward Mark Atkins suffered concussion in the final pre-season match. He had already been named in the NZ Heartland team to play Samoa at Eden Park but was forced to subsequently withdraw from the fixture and did not appear in a Championship match.

Last year’s standout flanker Callum McDonald was in Taranaki, last year’s top try-scorer Te Peehi Fairlie was unavailable, and Anthony Karauria was not playing. Jody Allen, twin brother of lock Juston, returned to the province for the first time since 2016. He missed the middle part of the season being away with the NZ Defence Force team. Adrian Wyrill had previously represented Taranaki and Manawatu.

POVERTY BAY REPRESENTATIVES 2019

	Name	Position	PL	TR	CON	PEN	DG
	Lance Dickson	Prop	3 (2)	0	0	0	0
	Tamanui Hill	No. 8	8	1	0	0	0
	Jacob Cook	Lock	2 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Gabe Te Kani	Lock, Loose Forward	8	0	0	0	0
	Morgan Reedy	Lock, Loose Forward	2 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Fawn White	Flanker	1	0	0	0	0
	William 'Will' Bolingford	Flanker	8 (7)	0	0	0	0
	Quade Tapsell	Flanker	8	2	0	0	0
	Willie Grogan	Halfback	7 (2)	0	0	0	0
	Tane T.R. McGuire	First Five	9	1	0	0	0
	Beaudein Roger Tuhaunui Waaka	First Five	4	6	11	0	0
	Korey Love	Fullback	3 (2)	0	0	0	0
	Jacob Leaf	Centre	9 (3)	0	0	0	0
	Scott McKinley	Wing	9 (2)	1	0	0	0
	Andrew Tauatevalu	Fullback	8	6	12	4	0
	Jordan McFarlane	Hooker	1 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Matekairoa McGuire	Hooker	7 (7)	1	0	0	0
	Campbell Peter Lincoln Chrisp	Prop	2 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Nicolas Carrizo	Flanker	2 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Matthew Raleigh	Wing	6 (2)	2	0	0	0
	Mario Counsell	Halfback	9 (5)	0	0	0	0
	Jake Holmes	First Five	4 (4)	1	0	0	0
	Hunter Mokomoko	Wing	3	0	0	0	0
	Toru Noanoa	Prop	9 (1)	2	0	0	0
	Ethine Snowden Reeves	First Five, Fullback	6 (1)	4	0	0	0
	Adrian Wyrill	Lock	7	2	0	0	0
	Myles Lardelli-Muir Tawa	Prop	2 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Kelvin Muir Smith	First Five, Fullback, Wing	7 (1)	0	5	1	0
	Semisi Akana	Lock, Prop	7 (4)	1	0	0	0
	Penalty Try		3 (3)	3	3	0	0
	Nathan Rangihuna	Wing	2 (1)	0	0	0	0
	Juston Myles Allen	Lock	7 (7)	0	0	0	0
	Rikki Terekia	Hooker	9	5	0	0	0
	Kenneth Russell 'Ken' Houkamau	Loose Forward	9	1	0	0	0
	Jody Maihi Allen	Prop	4	0	0	0	0

We hope you enjoy this look back as we look forward to many more years of recording the history of Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union.
We acknowledge all the information from the NZ “Rugby Almanack” Series from 1934 and appreciate their hard and dedicated work in providing this detailed history. – Web Admin—