\u201cWe\u2019re super-proud of the boys\u2019 effort and determination as a team,\u201d NoaNoa said. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people in the competition underestimated us in a few ways, but to make it to the final and beat the defending champions was a top performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat win felt like it was a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran N\u016bhaka second-five Hickson Raroa said: \u201cIt was a hard game to get into\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cBoth teams won their own set-piece ball, but we made unforced errors,\u201d said Raroa, who, with blindside flanker Aoterangi Cotter, coached the side.<\/p>\n
Referee Keelyn Smith awarded Ngatapa a penalty nine minutes into the game and NoaNoa potted the goal for 3-0.<\/p>\n
Raroa scored the first try after 14 minutes and it was converted by centre Tahuwaka Edwards to give The Star a 7-3 lead. <\/p>\n
In the 20th minute, NoaNoa kicked another penalty, only for Cotter to dot down in the 35th minute.<\/p>\n
Edwards converted and Raroa completed a personal double in the 40th minute to give the reigning champions a 19-6 lead at halftime. <\/p>\n
Reserve second-five Waisale Kubunameca started the Ngatapa comeback with a try \u2013 goose-step and all \u2013 after 53 minutes. NoaNoa\u2019s conversion reduced the deficit to six points.<\/p>\n
The green and whites\u2019 centre Kelan Bryant scored a sensational try at the one-hour mark, holding a bullet pass and beating two men to score for 19-18.<\/p>\n
Bryant\u2019s midfield partner Mikaere Bell put Ngatapa ahead 23-19 with a 70th-minute try and Delamere scored the title-sealing try in the 76th.<\/p>\n
Matawhero Harvest Transport Ngatapa 28 (Weihana Delamere, Mikaere Bell, Waisale Kubunameca, Kelan Bryant tries; Irie NoaNoa 2 pen, con) N\u016bhaka V8s 19 (Hickson Raroa 2, Aoterangi Cotter tries; Tahuwaka Edwards 2 con). HT: Ngatapa 6 N\u016bhaka 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re super-proud of the boys\u2019 effort and determination as a team,\u201d NoaNoa said. \u201cA lot of people in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[10968,64,63,9826,10970,55138,316631,25905,16308,38848,23988,4717,406651,21321,26296,760,127735,72280,85,8821,51775],"class_list":["post-834650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-10968","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bay","tag-club","tag-comeback","tag-equally","tag-exciting","tag-finals","tag-gisborne","tag-grade","tag-in","tag-ngatapa","tag-poverty","tag-premier","tag-rugby","tag-seals","tag-senior","tag-sports","tag-title","tag-were"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}