With scores tied 12-12 and less than five minutes remaining, the women’s Māori All Stars side made the bold decision to turn down the chance for a go-ahead penalty goal and instead opted to run the ball.
Co-captains Zahara Temara and Shannon Mato made the decision on field, which to their relief was justified by Zali's Fay's match-winning try seconds later.
“(We thought) ‘did they want us to take the two? You know, have we got any message from the coaches and that sort of stuff?'," Temara said.
"But then I looked at Shan and we looked at each other, and we had that look in our eyes and we said ‘nah, that's the easy way out. We're gonna take this challenge, because they are putting it to us and all of our whānau came to see a game, and we believe in ourselves and we were confident.”
Has Fay won it late?
Mato echoed those thoughts, stating "those are the moments we're going to take."
In a close game which saw the two sides trade tries throughout, Temara said it was important to instill confidence in the team with the game on the line.
“You have got to remember, the team gets confidence from their captain, so we were ‘nuh, we're going run it, we're going to back our players’," Temara continued.
“So, and that's what we did. And you know, some of some the girls pulled off some really big plays … we backed the girls and they did the job.”
Broughton named player of the match
Both captains put in strong performances – despite Temara having an off night with the boot, unable to convert any of her side's tries – and were helped by an outstanding Trish Hina Medal winning performance by full back Gayle Broughton, whose defensive efforts were also praised by Temara.
“When everyone was busted, broken, tired – we've got so many injuries after this game because that's how big this game was; it was a battle, it was war – we had girls pulling off big plays, like that ankle tap from Zali, or Gayle jumping on that ball, things could have gone either way and I am just happy it went ours."
For coach Keith Hanley, the result came as a relief, as he had planned for the side to edge their way in front with a kick for goal.
“There are certain words that I’d love to say (about not taking the goal), but 100 percent, they got there in the end," Hanley said.
“They showed a lot of resilience, trailing at the start of the fourth quarter and having Dessie (Destiny Brill) in the bin, somehow they managed to jag that try ... but we are very humbled and very grateful for the win.
The Maori Ferns celebrate
“Even the chase-down to bring down their outside backs when they made that break, it showed a lot of fight.
“It wasn’t the prettiest result we have ever been a part of, but we are still going to take it, very grateful.
“There was a little bit of a miscommunication, we sent the message down (to take the two) … but we probably took too much time so they had time to make up something else, but at the end of the day, that’s what characterises Māori rugby league, it’s a little bit off the cuff.”
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The two captains also spoke about how much the game meant to them to play on home soil for the first time.
“I think it's our biggest audience we have ever had for All Stars to be honest, I think it's been great,” Temara said.
“It's a little bit hard to explain the feelings that we felt and emotions that we felt going out there in front of our family, but it was an unreal experience.”