Hawke's Bay celebrate a try against Taranaki. Photo: John Cowpland / action press
Hawke's Bay have outlasted Taranaki 26-12 in a tense NPC quarterfinal at McLean Park, Napier.
Two tries in the second half to Lincoln McClutchie and Sam Smith made the difference, with McClutchie's boot doing the rest for the home side.
Earlier, Josh Jacomb opened the scoring for Taranaki with a penalty goal, as the visitors enjoyed the better of the early stages.
However, Hawke's Bay hit back with a well-taken try to Namibian test midfielder Le Roux Malan. In-form flanker Miracle Faiilagi joined him on the scoresheet to give Hawke's Bay a deserved 14-6 lead at halftime.
While McClutchie missed two relatively simple shots at goal, he made up for it, when he cut into the line after 54 minutes for a crucial try. Smith crashed over 12 minutes later and all Taranaki could answer with was two more Jacomb penalties.
To their credit, Taranaki kept fighting until the very end and were helped to a very careless high shot by Isaia Walker-Leawere, which saw the big lock sent to the sin bin.
Taranaki halfback Adam Lennox was denied by the third match official, after he fought his way to the line. If that try had stood, the last 10 minutes of the game would've been very interesting.
Hawke's Bay now move on to next weekend's semifinals, where they'll play the winners of tomorrow's quarterfinal between Canterbury and Counties-Manukau in Christchurch.
Otago host Bay of Plenty in the other semi.
Read how the game unfolded:
