Mooloo men suffer Mako attack
Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:15
Waikato suffered a second successive defeat in the Air New Zealand Cup when they went down 14-16 to the Tasman Makos at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Friday.
The Mooloo men were edged out by a last-gasp drop goal from Tasman pivot Miah Nikora, who kept his composure to seal the win for the Makos.
The loss leaves Waikato without a win after two matches, after they suffered a 10-18 reverse at the hands of Northland last weekend.
Waikato flyhalf Callum Bruce was guilty of a few missed kicks at goal during the match, starting with his first penalty kick at goal, which veered to the left of the target.
The home side soon made a mess of their defensive lines to leave a gap for the Tasman backs to exploit.
They did so expertly, and worked the ball into space before inside centre Joel Iggo crashed over for a try.
Flyhalf Nikora slotted the conversion to help Tasman out to a 7-0 lead after 15 minutes.
Waikato fullback Dwayne Sweeney was the victim of an early tackle, which allowed Bruce to open the scoring for the Mooloo men.
Nikora and Bruce then traded penalties twice before half-time, with the score at 13-9 to the Makos at the break.
Waikato were quickly out of the blocks after the break, scoring a fantastic try after a build-up which spanned almost the entire length of the pitch.
Flank Tom Harding was the man who rounded off some superb teamwork from the home side, to put Waikato in the lead for the first time in the match at 14-13.
Waikato had a great chance to build on their slender lead, but Sweeney spurned the chance when he knocked the ball on with the try-line in sight.
Tasman took full advantage of their narrow escape, and made the Mooloo men pay when they charged upfield for Nikora to seal the match on the stroke of full-time with a perfectly executed drop goal.
Scorers:
For Waikato:
Try:
Harding
Pens: Bruce 3
For Tasman:
Try: Iggo
Con: Nikora
Pens: Nikora 2
DG: Nikora
Teams:
Waikato: 15 Dwayne Sweeney, 14 Sosene Anesi, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Roimata Hansell-Pune, 11 Tim Mikkelson, 10 Callum Bruce, 9 David Bason, 8 Liam Messam (captain), 7 Tom Harding, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Aled de Malmanche, 2 Oli Avei, 1 Craig West.
Replacements: 16 Hikairo Forbes, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Jordan Smiler, 20 Josh Sutherland, 21 Trent Renata, 22 James Kamana.
Tasman: 15 Robbie Malneek, 14 Blair Cook, 13 Andrew Goodman (captain), 12 Joel Iggo, 11 Afeleki Pelenise, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Mark Bright, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Jonathon Poff, 5 Alex Ainley, 4 Will Crutchley, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Daniel Perrin, 1 Ben May.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Tristan Moran, 18 Steve
Jackson, 19 Glen Gregory, 20 Lualua Vailoaloa, 21 Mike Pehi, 22 Jams Marshall.
Referee: Kelvin Deaker
TMO: Ben Skeen
