Tasman prevail in 'relegate' battle
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:37
Tasman tore away at Northland in Whangerei on Saturday, giving the Makos a bonus-point 31-10 Air New (NZ) Zealand Cup victory in their round six encounter.
With both sides set for an axing from next year's competition, it seemed there was a little more than just Air NZ Cup points on the line in this clash.
Although Northland looked stronger in the first half, it was Tasman that ran in two tries and took control of the match, steadily increasing their lead throughout the second half.
Tasman scored the first try of the evening against the run of play thanks to a Blair Cook interception, seeing him run the length of the field to score.
Flyhalf Miah Nikora slotted the conversion to give his side a seven point lead, shortly before Makos scrumhalf Kahn Fotuali'i was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle.
With Tasman now on the front foot, prop Ben May drove over the line for the Makos second try on the back of some determined forward play.
Northland held firm though, and were given a perfect scoring opportunity when flyhalf David Holwell put a penalty kick right into the corner. After some rumbling forward play, a clever pass to fullback Jared Payne saw Northland score their first and only try.
The Holwell conversion, on top of an earlier penalty kick, took the score to 14-10 going into half-time.
A Nikora penalty saw Tasman secure the first points of the second half to take a commanding 17-10 lead.
Makos then scored again through Cook, after selling a massive dummy to claim his second five-pointer of the evening.
Nikora added the conversion and Tasman bumped up their lead to 24-10 after 50 minutes of play.
Northland seemed to be dropping their heads as Tasman began to really dominate, stringing together some wonderful, high-energy phases.
Northland's desperation came to a head in the 60th minute, giving away a midfield penalty just metres from their own goal-line.
Tasman opted for a scrum and sent a quick ball to Cook, but fortunately for Northland he was shuffled into touch just before the try-line.
Tasman were awarded another scrum close on Northland's line with just under 10 minutes left in the game, which they duly capitalised on.
Fotuali'i picked the ball up off the back of a strong scrum and darted over for the Makos' vital bonus-point try, with Nikora's conversion taking the final score to 31-10.
Scorers:
For Northland:
Try: Payne
Con: Holwell
Pen: Holwell
For Tasman:
Tries: Cook 2, May, Fotuali'i
Cons: Nikora 4
Pen: Nikora
Teams:
Northland: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Damian Fakafanua, 13 Rene Ranger, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Fetu
Vainikolo, 10 David Holwell, 9 James Rodley, 8 Justin Collins (captain), 7 Hamish Patterson, 6 Joel McKenty, 5 Marty Veale, 4 Roy Griffin, 3 Tevita Mailau, 2 Francis Smith, 1 Tony Coughlan.
Replacements: 16 Tyler Ashworth, 17 Ross Wright/Jason Hammond, 18 Daniel Goodwin, 19 John Cocker, 20 Brenton Helleur, 21 Ash Moeke, 22 Aden Dewes.
Tasman: 15 Robbie Malneek, 14 Mike Pehi, 13 Kade Poki, 12 Andrew Goodman (captain), 11 Blair Cook, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Mark Bright, 7 Jonathan Poff, 6 Joe Wheeler, 5 Will Crutchley, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Dan Perrin, 1 Ben May.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Tristan Moran, 18 Jack Lam, 19 Karl Leary, 20 Lua Vailoaloa, 21 James Marshall, 22 Joel Iggo.
Referee: Matt Stanish
TMO: Ben Skeen
