On Saturday saw the curtain come down on the AR Plus Baywide Premier Final at Murray Salt Stadium in Te Puke between Te Puke Pirates and Greerton Marist.

On a firm and dry track Te Puke opened the scoring in the 12th minute through Kase Meyer who scored in the clubrooms corner. Greerton Marists Junior Matautia kicked a penalty goal towards the back end of the half  and Te Puke held a narrow 5-3 advantage at the break.

Early in the second stanza Pirates Brad Armstrong went over for try and fullback Fletcher Carpenter converted for 12-3 lead. Declan Barnett added to the Pirates tally ten minutes later with Carpenter adding another  conversion which put Te Puke Pirates out to a handy 19 -3 lead.

Greerton Marist did not drop their heads and scored their first try of the afternoon through Rico Syme which was converted by Matautia.

Carpenter got injured moment earlier and Taine Craig-Ranga banged over three points from 40m out to what most people would have thought was the end of any hope for Greerton Marist, but back they came through a silky try to Syme, Matautia added the two points. With two minutes left on the clock Greerton Marist had everything to play for but kicked the ball away on the restart which Te Puke closed up the shop and also the AR Plus Baywide title for 2024 winning 22 – 17.

Jarrod McKeown from AR Plus said “Congratulations to both Greerton Marist and Te Puke Sports for making the Baywide final. The game was a high quality spectacle with outstanding defence and high work rate from both teams, which kept the massive crowd entertained. AR Plus are proud to be sponsors of all senior rugby in the BOP and would like to congratulate Te Puke Sports for an outstanding season and a well deserved win in the final. Let’s not forget the excellent refereeing from Andy Morton  who let the game flow and was fitting for a final. Good luck to all players selected for higher honours and go The Steamers!!

In other finals, it was all one way traffic with Mount Maunganui taking out the AR Plus Baywide Colts title over Te Puna 35 – 7 at Blake Park and the Western Bay of Plenty Development Final saw Mount Maunganui take out a nail biter over Greerton Marist  25 – 17 at Blake Park.

Photo cred: Rick Moran

Article added: Tuesday 30 July 2024