This was the first time South Canterbury had lost two games in a row since 2019 and the first loss to Poverty Bay since 2011.
South Canterbury A also lost in their final to Mid Canterbury 13-15, so it was a weekend without celebration.
As with last week, despite starting strongly with over 13 attacking phases, South Canterbury’s fundamental handling errors, missed tackles and turnovers at the rucks kept giving the ball back to Poverty Bay, who made the most of every opportunity.
Led by their halfback Henry Saker, who was probably Poverty Bay’s player of the day,they held on to possession and held a 28-0 lead after just 25 minutes, with a bonus point fourth try as well.
Winger Sireli Masi got South Canterbury on to the scoreboard, scoring a hat trick of tries — two in the final 10 minutes before halftime and another early in the second half.
Paula Fifita stole the ball off an attacker and fed it to Masi, who then sprinted the 90m to score in a 14-point swing as South Canterbury narrowed the gap to 31-21.
As the subs bench came on, Willie Wright sped the game up with quick tap kicks and was rewarded with a try under the posts, following a forward drive.
Brayden Dew converted and with 12 minutes to play South Canterbury were suddenly down only 34-28.
Driving play from Anthony Amato and Conor Anderson had South Canterbury in position for Clarence Moli to score by the posts from the back of a ruck and the conversion giving them a one-point lead.
With four minutes to hold on for a come-from-behind win, Poverty Bay got possession and made no mistake as they moved upfield Saker beat the defence to score and give Poverty Bay the win.
South Canterbury take on North Otago in Oamaru next weekend to stay in the semis mix after dropping back to third on the table.
West Coast are now out of the running after losing 15 competition points and being fined $5000 this week for fielding an ineligible player.
South Canterbury are only one point ahead of North Otago, Whanganui and Poverty Bay while last year’s champions Thames Valley are back in seventh with two rounds to play.
Results: North Otago beat West Coast 38-31, Thames Valley beat East Coast 84-5, Whanganui won 27-21 over Horowhenua-Kapiti and Mid Canterbury continued their unbeaten run, winning 32-17 over King Country.
— Supplied
