Being outscored four tries to three couldn’t stop Marist beating Nelson 31-22 in the Tasman Trophy final at a wet and windy Trafalgar Park on Saturday.
The difference was fullback Luke Kilworth’s goal kicking, landing four penalties and two conversions, one of them into the wind from the sideline.
Nelson made the best possible start with first five and captain Fletcher Hewett-Smart splitting the defence to score between the posts in just the third minute.
A sensational break from Marist No.8 Joseph Domoni, carrying the ball in one hand, looked like grabbing the equaliser only for halfback Wil Thornally to spill his pass with the line begging.
But when the ball was worked wide to Fili Kama, the winger made no mistake.
The lights were turned on after just 20 minutes, in the murky conditions, coinciding with Nelson’s outstanding flanker Matt Lowe heading to the blood bin.
After a break from Marist wing Timi Sauira, his brother Nic scooped up the ball and ran it in from 50 metres out.
Luke then landed his first penalty goal to open up a 15-7 lead, only for prop Sione Mafi to bullock over just before half-time for Nelson.
Marist coach Nic Smith says that three point lead was a bonus after playing into a stiff wind while his Nelson counterpart Tom Marshall was ruing his side’s first half performance.
With Matt back, the Nelson defence was staunch early in the second spell but couldn’t deny a hard-charging Joseph and when Luke then nailed a 44m penalty, a 13-point lead had the defending champions in control.
After Marist lock Sam Liebezeit was sinbinned, Nelson finished off pressure as wing Nelesoni Malaulau powered over from a rare foray into opposition territory.
But as Nelson kept infringing, Luke banged over consecutive penalties to push the lead back out to 31-17.
“Goalkicking becomes important with wet weather in finals football,” confirms Luke, who says sticking with their process ensured Marist would come away with the win.
Replacement prop Isi Vite grabbed a fourth try for Nelson but the penalty count continued to mount and Marist, renowned for its strong second halves, won comfortably 31-22 to retain its title.
“It was something we set out to do but we didn’t speak a lot about it during the year. The depth of our squad gave us confidence. We knew winning the toss was crucial and we thought if we could be within seven points of Nelson at the break, we were in a strong position. A key word throughout the week was trust. It was a massive result,” says Nic.
After making the final for the first time in eight years, Tom was very disappointed with his side’s display.
“We didn’t really fire a shot. I didn’t recognise a lot of stuff that we were doing. We went away from the game plan. I am sure if we had our time again we would be a lot better,” insists the Nelson coach.
“Marist deserved to win today as they were certainly the better side out there.”
Marist 31 (Fili Kama, Nic Sauira and Joseph Domoni tries, Luke Kilworth two conversions and four penalty goals) beat Nelson 22 ( Fletcher Hewett-Smart, Sione Mafi, Nelsoni Malaulau and Isi Vite tries, Fletcher one conversion).
