Hawke's Bay prop Pouri Rakete-Stones. Photo: Photosport
Hawke's Bay have capped a week of controversy week by upsetting Bay of Plenty 38-28 in their NPC quarter-final.
Hawke's Bay, who trailed by nine points at halftime, attracted all the wrong headlines this week, having broken the Ranfurly Shield during celebrations after winning it.
They put that behind them in a blistering second-half display in which they scored an unanswered 19 points to set up a semi-final next week against Wellington.
That will be a grudge match of sorts after Hawke's Bay lifted the Log O' Wood off Wellington last week, setting in train a sequence of events that grabbed national headlines.
A New Zealand Rugby investigation is continuing into how the famed Shield was broken into two pieces and also what a mysterious white powder substance was which appeared in an image on social media.
That issue was forgotten as the visitors crossed through Tyrone Thompson, Lolagi Visinia and Chase Tiatia to snare an upset win over the fourth ranked Bay of Plenty at Tauranga Domain.
Prop Pouri Rakete-Stones and Thompson crossed in the first half but they trailed 28-19 after Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Manaaki Selby-Rickit (twice) and LeRoy Carter scored for the home side.
Taranaki will meet Canterbury in the other semi-final on Friday, followed by the clash on Saturday between defending champions Wellington and Hawke's Bay.
- RNZ