Cole's dummy try steers Hawke's Bay to fifth straight NPC win over Southland

Will Cole seized his first NPC start at first five-eighth to help Hawke’s Bay maintain their perfect record, guiding the Magpies to a 36-21 victory over Southland in Invercargill to stay top of the standings.

The 21-year-old, who represented New Zealand at both the Rugby Championship U20 in South Africa and the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia earlier this year, finished with a try and several conversions for an 11-point haul. Cole had previously been deployed at fullback in the Magpies’ campaign, with Harry Godfrey holding the starting 10 jersey for the opening four rounds, but Cole’s opportunity arrived and he took it emphatically.

Hawke’s Bay were dominant in the first half, with Frank Lochore and Folau Fakatava both crossing twice as the Magpies raced to a 31-0 lead at the break. Cole’s own try came from a well-worked dummy close to the Southland line — the No. 10 pinned his ears back and dived over just inside the right post to cap a commanding opening 40 minutes.

Southland mounted a spirited second-half response. All Blacks Sevens back Scott Gregory got the Stags on the board in the 46th minute, and NSW Waratahs prop Jack Barrett added another before Sean Withy crossed with six minutes remaining. Mika Muliaina’s conversion made it 36-21, and despite Hawke’s Bay conceding a yellow card late on, the scoreline held.

Hunter Morrison had replied for the Magpies midway through the second half, but the ladder-leaders were unable to add to their tally as Southland controlled the final quarter on the scoreboard.

“The Stags down here are tough, tough as. And the weather — in Hawke’s Bay we’re not really used to this weather so we knew it was going to be a scrap,” Lochore said after the match.

“We wanted to just hold the ball a little bit. Obviously our get-to line was a little bit shorter, we wanted to play our jag sides. But to be fair, Southland came out well and just starved us of pill and our ill-discipline put them down in good spots and they did well.”

Hawke’s Bay remain the only unbeaten side in the competition heading into the next round.