Canterbury crush sorry Auckland
Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:59
Canterbury shocked rivals Auckland on Saturday with a resounding 34-3 thrashing of the North Island team in a one-sided Air New Zealand Cup match at the AMI Stadium.
The Christchurch-based outfit broke the monotony of the opening period of tactical jostling when they scored the game's first try through fullback Paul Williams.
Home captain Kieran Read won a loose ball after Auckland had failed to secure, and the possession was wisely used by the skipper. Read sent a great skip-pass out to Williams, who had an easy run-in to score in the 12th minute.
Flyhalf Colin Slade had a day to forget with the boot, and his woes started with a missed conversion.
Slade ended with a success rate of only two kicks from seven attempts, but the home side was so dominant that Slade's profligacy made little difference in the match.
Auckland has an opportunity to get back into the match on 26 minutes when fullback James Helleur intercepted a suspect Canterbury pass and sprinted 80 metres before he was hauled in by Tim Bateman close to the try-line.
Bateman's tackle dislodged the ball from Helleur's grasp and Auckland's chance was lost.
Helleur was in the action again shortly after, but this time he was culpable as he lost the ball, which was then hacked through for wing James Paterson to open his scoring account in the Air New Zealand Cup.
Auckland pressed hard from the restart, and won a penalty in a kickable position which Lachlan Munro narrowly missed just before the break.
The second half saw some early attacking pressure from Auckland, but they were unable to make their forward momentum count.
But Canterbury flyhalf Slade's radar continued to lead him astray as he missed an easy penalty chance.
But Slade did make up for his wasteful kicking with a neat grubber in behind the Auckland defence, which allowed wing Scott Hamilton to crash over for the home side's third try.
This time Slade couldn't miss the conversion, and pushed Canterbury's lead out to 17-0.
The pivot then made a fantastic break to set up the bonus-point try for the home side, when prop Wyatt Crockett crashed over for yet another score.
Auckland were now well and truly struggling in the contest, and only managed a consolation penalty through Munro in the 62nd minute.
But the Cantabrians were on a roll, and forced two more tries in the final quarter through replacements Ryan Crotty and Steve Fualau.
Slade converted the final try to complete the 34-3 rout, on a day that Auckland would rather forget.
Scorers:
For Canterbury:
Tries: Williams, Paterson, Hamilton, Crockett, Crotty, Fualau
Cons: Slade 2
For Auckland:
Pen: Munro
Teams:
Canterbury: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Adam Whitelock, 12 Tim
Bateman, 11 James Paterson, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Tyson Keats, 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Hayden Hopgood, 6 Kieran Read (captain), 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Steve Fualau, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Nasi Manu, 19 George Whitelock, 20 Steve Alfeld, 21 Ryan Crotty, 22 Kosuke Endo.
Auckland: 15 Jamie Helleur, 14 Jarek Goebel, 13 Winston Stanley, 12 Ben Atiga, 11 David Smith, 10 Lachie Munro, 9 Brenton Helleur, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Kurtis Haiu, 5 Jay Williams, 4 Stanley Haukinima, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Paea Fa'anunu.
Replacements: 16 Pauliasi Manu, 17 Nick White, 18 Dean Budd, 19 Onosa'i Auva'a, 20 Grayson Hart/Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Ash Moeke, 22 Mapa Tuipulotu.
Referee: Chris Pollock
TMO: Josh Noonan
