Chiefs wing Emoni Narawa showed his class as he set up inside centre Rameka Poihipi for their opening try in their 44-25 victory over the Rebels in their Super Rugby Pacfic encounter in Wellington on Friday.
With the score 8-3 in the Rebels’ favour, Narawa fielded a ball midway between the halfway line and his 22 in the 21st minute before taking on the visitors’ defence.
He turned on the afterburners and beat Stacey Ili and Brad Wilkin with ease, although an ankle tap from Ili broke Narawa‘s momentum. Despite that, his momentum still took him past Monty Ioane and Ryan Louwrens before a desperate tackle from Carter Gordon, close to the Rebels’ tryline, halted his progress.
Narawa managed to free his arms, however, and threw an inside pass to Poihipi, who had an easy run-in over the whitewash.
Emoni Narawa ladies and gentlemen! 🔥#CHIvREB #SuperRugbyPacific pic.twitter.com/ZU2WmYmlGJ
— Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) March 18, 2023
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Earlier, the visitors raced into an 8-0 lead courtesy of a Reece Hodge penalty and an Alex Mafi try before Bryn Gatland opened the Chiefs‘ account with a penalty in the 17th minute.
Poihipi’s try followed soon afterwards and Gatland converted to give the home side a 10-8 lead. The Chiefs continued to dominate and were soon holding a 27-8 lead after Gatland added a penalty and Narawa and Shaun Stevenson crossed for tries which were both converted by Gatland.
Just before half-time, crossed for the Rebels‘ second try, which was converted by Gordon, which meant the Chiefs led 27-15 at the interval.
The home side made a bright start to the second half as Tyrone Thompson and Stevenson went over for further five-pointers – with Gatland adding one conversion – which meant they held a comfortable 39-15 lead by the 45th minute.
The Rebels struck back soon after when Nick Jooste dotted down but the Chiefs replied with a Etene Nanai-Seturo try in the 53rd minute.
The final quarter had little interesting to report although the Rebels finished stronger and were rewarded when David Feliuai scored their fourth try in the game’s closing stages.
Video credit: Super Rugby Pacific
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