Mooloo men back in play-off mix
Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:22
Waikato managed to turn on the style on Friday to produce a comprehensive 39-10 win over struggling Otago in their Air New Zealand Cup encounter in Hamilton.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Mooloos skipper Liam Messam, who led from the front with an awesome hat-trick of tries to condemn Otago to their fifth loss of the season.
Waikato were quickest out of the blocks and managed to put Otago under pressure early in the game.
The breakthrough came in the 14th minute for the home side, when captain Messam forced his way over the Otago try-line with three defenders unable to stop him. Flyhalf Callum Bruce added the extra points, and Waikato took a deserved 7-0 lead.
Mooloo lock Romana Graham had a debut to savour, and was heavily involved in the action throughout.
Graham played an integral part in Waikato's second try, when he broke the line after a neat pass from centre Dwayne Sweeney. Graham tried to find a team-mate, but his pass was knocked back in the tackle, only for the ever-present Messam to pick up and score his second try.
Once again Bruce converted, but Otago finally got on the scoreboard soon after to decrease their deficit to 3-14, courtesy of a snap drop-goal from pivot Daniel Bowden.
But the Mooloo men were in belligerent mood and scrumhalf David Bason scored his team's third try on 25 minutes, which was again converted by sure-shot Bruce.
And it wasn't long before Messam showed his full array of skills. The flank broke the Otago line once again, stepped a would-be tackler, and outsprinted the cover defence to complete his hat-trick.
Bruce made it four conversions on the trot to send his team into half-time with a massive 28-3 lead.
The Waikato captain failed to reappear for the second period after picking up a leg injury, but the damage was done.
Pivot Bruce added salt to the Otago wounds early in the second half with a penalty conversion to stretch the lead out to 31-3.
Only then did Otago finally wake from their slumber, adding a try through wing Karne Hesketh, who raced through a small gap to score under the posts. Bowden completed the simple conversion.
And that was all Otago had to give on the night, as once again they found their defences breached - this time it was fullback Sosene Anesi who raced clear to finish off an impressive move from the home side for their fifth try.
Otago were a spent force, and could not find a way through the Mooloo defence, but there was still time for Bruce to slot a penalty from right out in front to complete the scoring.
The result has revived Waikato's push for the play-offs, but at the same time, Otago look odds-on to drop out of the quarterfinal places, with only one match remaining in the round-robin phase of the competition.
Scorers:
For Waikato:
Tries: Messam 3, Bason, Anesi
Cons: Bruce
4
Pens: Bruce 2
For Otago:
Try: Hesketh
Con: Bowden
DG: Bowden
Teams:
Waikato: 15 Sosene Anesi, 14 Tim Mikkelson, 13 Dwayne Sweeney, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Callum Bruce, 9 David Bason, 8 Faifili Levave, 7 Tom Harding, 6 Liam Messam (captain), 5 Romana Graham, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Aled de Malmanche, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Vern Kamo, 17 Toby Smith, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Matt Blain, 20 Malcolm Barnes, 21 Sam Christie, 22 Savenaca Tokula.
Otago: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Lucky Mulipola, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Dan Snee, 11 Karne Hesketh, 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 Andrew Parata.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence
TMO: Kelvin Deaker
