Taranaki comeback bewilders Otago
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:20
Taranaki came back from a 15-point deficit at half-time with 24 second-half points to clinch a 31-27 victory over Otago in their Air New Zealand (NZ) Cup fixture in Dunedin on Friday.
Friday's victory sees 'Naki surge from 10th up into sixth position on the Air NZ Cup table.
Otago lock Tom Donnelly - having recovered from recent hamstring strain - played his 50th game and led the forward pack in an intense first half effort.
However, it was openside flank Craig Newby who opened the scoring for Otago, after a charging run off a wayward Willie Ripia kick-off.
After a Bowden converted, it was 7-0 after five minutes as Otago continued to apply the pressure, playing with impressive urgency and consistently breaking the Taranaki line with well-timed passing and straight running.
Taranaki however, starved of possession, hit back after eventually getting their hands on some attacking ball.
'Naki Fullback Ace Malo crossed after 12 minutes, bursting through some lightweight Otago tackling for an excellent individual try, which Ripia converted to tie the scores.
Just minutes later, Bowden grabbed the lead back with a penalty. Not long afterwards, fullback Glen Horton benefited from a powerful Ross Kennedy run to make it 17-7 (with the conversion) after 22 minutes in favour of Otago.
Otago maintained pressure as the half closed, seeing wing Karne Hesketh touching down off a sweet midfield line-break from Horton, leaving a demoralised Taranaki answer-less as they trudged off at half-time trailing 7-22.
But whatever coach Adrian Kennedy said at half-time seemed to have galvanised his team, as a resurgent set of 'Naki players took the field in the second half to secure a comeback win.
Centre Nathan Hohaia initiated the fightback when he crossed in the opening minutes after inside centre Jayden Hayward broke the line and slipped him a perfectly-timed pass.
After another Ripia conversion, Taranaki regrouped and did it again five minutes later courtesy of wing Paul Perez.
Ripia missed that conversion and the next after Scott Waldrom crashed over in a classic openside flank effort, to give Taranaki a 24-22 lead.
Perez then crossed again for the bonus-point try, which Ripia converted, to stamp Taranaki's chokehold on the second half, which was loosened only when it was too late.
Otago scored their only points of the second spell in the 81st minute as wing Lucky Mulipola crashed over to give his side a consolatory bonus point.
Scorers:
For Otago:
Tries: Newby, Horton, Hesketh, Mulipoa
Cons: Bowden 2
Pen: Bowden
For Taranaki:
Tries: Malo, Hohaia, Perez 2, Waldrom
Cons: Ripia
3
Teams:
Otago: 15 Glen Horton, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 11 Ben Smith, 10 Daniel Bowden, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Eben Joubert, 6 Craig Newby (captain), 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Ben Nolan, 2 Jason MacDonald, 1 Keith Cameron.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Jed Vercoe, 18 Uili Kolo'ofai, 19 Paul Grant, 20 Sean Romans, 21 Chris Noakes, 22 Lucky Mulipola.
Taranaki: 15 Ace Malo, 14 Paul Perez, 13 Nathan Hohaia, 12 Jayden Hayward, 11 Shayne Austin, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Brett Goodin, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Scott Waldrom, 6 Chris Walker, 5 Craig Clarke, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Hamish Mitchell, 2 Laurence Corlett, 1 Tony Penn (captain).
Replacements: 16 James Annabell, 17 Shane Cleaver, 18 Tom Ryder, 19 Nemia Soqeta, 20 Brendan Haami, 21 Jonathan Spratt, 22 Jack Cameron.
Referee: Josh Noonan
TMO: James McPhail
