Southland will enjoy having the Donald Stuart Memorial Shield in the cabinet for the summer but they will not need to find space for the Ranfurly Shield.
They at least gave holders Hawke’s Bay a fair old fright before slipping to a 31-17 loss in Napier on Saturday, and there is no doubt the Stags — who opened the season with a convincing win over old rivals Otago — will be competitive all season.
A bit more efficiency with ball in hand and a touch more potency on attack and the Stags will be away.
They scored the opening try of the Shield challenge after two early Lincoln McClutchie penalties for Hawke’s Bay.
After a delightful kick from Southland halfback Connor Collins, the Magpies had a shocker on their own lineout throw and dynamite hooker Jack Taylor was able to charge close to the line.
Two drives later and burly prop Morgan Mitchell was burrowing over the line.
While their lineout misfired, the Magpies showed good ball retention and were regularly able to get over the advantage line through their big pack, while Highlanders halfback Folau Fakatava was involved in everything as usual.
The Stags hustled on defence, and got a nice break when Collins again unleashed a perfect kick to earn a 50-22.
The issue for Southland was that, whenever they got on the attack, they saw it perish through an unforced error.
Hawke’s Bay capitalised with late tries to Mat Protheroe and Nick Grigg, and took a 16-7 lead into halftime.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were relatively forgettable, but after the
Stags kicked a penalty to reduce the margin, the home side took control with a nice try in the 60th minute as flanker Frank Lochore scored in the corner.
McClutchie’s third penalty made it a 14-point game with 10 minutes to play.
The Stags rallied, and scored a nice try when Faletoi Peni toed through a kick and Isaac Te Tamaki — who had looked good all game — swooped on it, but the Magpies capped their defence of the Log o’ Wood with a counter-attacking try on the buzzer.
"I think we just gave away a few silly penalties and piggy-backed them into our zone a lot," Southland captain Sean Withy told Sky Sport.
"I also think we just turned the ball over a bit easily. We lost it in the carry quite a bit.
"We came up here to give it a good crack and we’re a bit disappointed how it turned out."
Southland return to Invercargill to host Taranaki this Saturday night.
Tasman beat Canterbury 22-7 in the Crusaders derby on Saturday, while Northland beat Manawatu 35-18.
Yesterday, Bay of Plenty beat North Harbour 24-20, Wellington downed Taranaki 26-19, and Waikato defeated Counties Manukau 26-20.
Ranfurly Shield
The scores
Hawke’s Bay 31
Mat Protheroe, Nick Grigg, Frank Lochore, Sam Wye tries; Lincoln McClutchie con, 3 pen
Southland 17
Morgan Mitchell, Isaac Te Tamaki tries; Byron Smith con, pen, Jason Robertson con
Halftime: Hawke’s Bay 16-7.
