Poverty Bay retained the Anaru 'Skip' Paenga Trophy after dispatching East Coast 46-3. Thanks to Gisborne Herald here are the reports:

Pictured: Jo Paenga with grandson, Anaru Paenga presents Poverty Bay Captain, Scott Leighton, his grand dads trophy at More FM Rugby Park on Saturday. 

Tuesday, 2 June 2009 By John Hill

Poverty Bay first five-eighth Scott Leighton has kept a low-profile for HSOB on the local club scene but was back to his brilliant best against Ngati Porou East Coast. Apart from the opening 12 minutes when the Sky Blues had the better start, Leighton ran the show and was head and shoulders above everyone on the paddock, although fullback Kahu Tamatea showed glimpses of his class. Leighton capped a magnificent match with the final try to go along with four superb conversions and two penalties. Halfback Willie Haenga, making his debut for the Bay, was another to impress on a day when the home side had the edge in fitness. Haenga curbed his natural inclination to run at every opportunity from the base of the scrum — preferring to get the ball into Leighton’s hands as quickly and accurately as possible. It didn’t, however, stop Haenga from scoring the opening try. Prop Anaru Poihipi, making his return to the Bay side after a spell in Australia, justified his selection with an impressive display alongside hooker Andrew Cribb and seasoned campaigner Colin Hovell in a pack who got better and took control as the game went on. “I was pleased with a lot of things we did against the Coast and we got the result we wanted, a win,” said coach Grainger Heikell. “Considering we’ve only had three training sessions and this was our first game together I’m reasonably happy. There’s always work to be done but all-in-all first up it was a good performance.” Coast player-coach Horace Lewis was also satisfied with his side’s effort despite the loss. “With club rugby still going we’ve had one training session and we had nine players who can be expected to be pushing for starting places pull out with injuries, work commitments, unveilings and a bereavement. “We lost Junior (Coast captain and No 8 Morgan Wirepa junior) late in the piece to a bereavement and that knocked us a bit. Overall, I was happy with the spirit shown by the guys who fronted up.” Lewis came off the bench to replace Wirepa’s replacement Harley Phillips after 20 minutes and was one of the Coast’s better players. “Poverty Bay deserved to win but I thought they got the bounce of the ball on a few occasions, some of which led to tries, but as I told the boys — this is the first building block in our preparation for the Heartland Championship.” Lewis was happy with the performances of recalled second five Marty Lloyd, halfback Charlie Harrison, fullback Roha Dalton-Reedy, hooker Mahuta Morice and loose forwards Donny Mill and Darryl Baker.

Poverty Bay 46 (Willie Haenga, Jack Brooking, Tawhiri Walsh, Sione Ngatu, Scott Leighton, Clayton Kiwara tries; Leighton 4 con, 2 pen, Kahu Tamatea con) NPEC 3 (Matt Richards pen) HT: 17-3

Tuesday, 2 June 2009 By John Hill

Poverty Bay’s new coach Grainger Heikell pulled no punches after a 14-tries-to-none hiding from Hawke’s Bay development yesterday at Rugby Park. “If I’m in charge next year we’d have to have a serious rethink about playing two games in three days, especially against a side as classy as Hawke’s Bay,” said Heikell, whose team beat Ngati Porou East Coast on Saturday. “I seriously doubt that either of us got anything out of the game, apart from it enabling us to give some guys a taste of rep rugby. But you’d have to question the wisdom of two games in one weekend. I’ve been there as a player and it was tough then. It’s even tougher now . “The modern teams, in this professional era, are so well-conditioned. They were too big, too physical, too quick all over the paddock — as you’d expect for a side with Air New Zealand first division players or players looking to break into the first team.” Heikell’s cause wasn’t helped with injuries to star players skipper Scott Leighton (hamstring) and fullback Kahu Tamatea (calf) and promising young halfback Willie Haenga (calf) from Saturday’s win. Yesterday’s team contained 11 changes from the starting 15 who beat the Coast. “Even then we were scrambling to get players to the ground with snow and weather conditions making it hard for some players who live in the country,” said Heikell. “Hawke’s Bay put us under pressure from the kick-off and apart from a 10-minute period in the first half and some better spells in the second we were always defending. They kept getting over the advantage line.” Down 50-0 at halftime, Heikell said he told the players to “keep going”. “It wasn’t about the score, it was about showing character and not putting their heads down, which I’m glad to say they didn’t.” The Bay had opportunities to put points on board in the second half, when they were awarded penalties in kickable positions, but chose to go for the line. “At that stage it wasn’t about the score, it was about trying to come up with some moves of our own.”