Howick beat Otara Scorpions 48-18 at Ngati Otara Park and will meet Hibiscus Coast in the decider
The Howick Hornets scored nine tries to beat the Otara Scorpions 48-18 at Ngati Otara Park on Saturday and reach the Auckland Rugby League Sharman Cup grand final.
“Especially for these young guys, I don’t know if they’ve won much, but it means a lot,” Hornets captain Clayton Williams said in a video posted the day before the game.
“You remember it forever.”
The Hornets led 26-0 inside 27 minutes. They were never headed.
Darius Niumata opened the scoring in the fifth minute, and inside the half hour Howick had run in five unanswered tries through Niumata, Josh Setefano, Justin Reynolds, Peter Heretama Wikaire and Sione Tuimoala.
Titanian Palei got Otara on the board in the 33rd minute and scored again three minutes later to make it 26-8 at the break.
Reynolds completed a hat-trick after the interval with tries in the 45th and 61st minutes, and Niumata claimed his second in the 55th.
Filipo Utai and Makalani Hakalo replied for the home side in the 65th and 70th, with Tagasia Fulutusi kicking the conversion.
Setefano had the last word with a try four minutes from time, his second, which with six goals gave him 20 points.
It was Howick’s second win over the defending champions in a fortnight, after a 38-22 result at Paparoa Park on 25 July.
Williams said he had drifted away from league once he knew a professional career was not coming, and that playing alongside his mates was what drew him back.
“Just knowing I wasn’t going to pursue an NRL career, that alone sort of made us give up a bit,” he said.
“Those little moments in the game when you’re stuffed and you look over and, yeah, it’s alright, mates got your back type thing.”
The win puts Howick one match from a third Sharman Cup, the Auckland Rugby League’s second division title and a rung below the Fox Memorial Shield.
The trophy was given to the Auckland league in 1934 by a Mr Sharman of the drapery firm George Court and Sons, and was first played for in 1935.
Howick won it in 2005 and 2009, then spent 15 seasons in the first division, lifting the Fox Memorial in 2011 and 2019, before dropping back to the Sharman Cup last year.
The Hornets finished third in the eight-team competition on 19 points, three behind Hibiscus Coast, who beat Otara on 1 August to go straight to the final.
Howick now meet the Raiders for the title, and the Auckland Rugby League is yet to confirm a date or a venue.
