Shield stays in Moolooland
NPC SATURDAY WRAP: Waikato has made a successful 42-11 Ranfurly Shield defence – the second of their current tenure – over the Southland Stags in Hamilton.
The result is the Mooloos’ fifth successive win and keeps them on top of the Championship table, but they had to withstand a fierce first-half Southland effort.
Waikato led 14-11 at the break, but that included a late Sevu Reece try – his seventh for 2018.
The home side was under real pressure from the staunch Southland defence and a more fluid attacking game by the visitors.
It was an altogether more focused and accurate Waikato that emerged in the second stanza.
* In other Saturday action set-piece dominance laid the platform for the Tasman Mako to rise to the top of the Premiership ladder with a 28-22 victory over the Wellington Lions in a windy capital.
Tasman led 13-10 at the break and extended to 23-10, before a late Lions flourish, but enough was done to retain the Cook Strait Cup and to lift the Mako to 33 competition points, which cannot be headed by Canterbury, playing on Sunday, this round.
Veteran prop Wyatt Crockett led the way in his 362nd first-class match, which takes him past the late Sir Colin Meads into second place behind Keven Mealamu on the all-time New Zealand appearance list.
He was into everything in a 72-minute shift, strong over the ball and steady in the scrums.
But, in truth, every member of the Mako tight five stood tall, especially at scrum and line-out time.
That paved the way for the halves Finlay Christie and Mitch Hunt to control play with steady hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s20xFYALxU
- North Harbour ran rampant to add to Taranaki’s pain – taking a 55-26 win at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth.
Points were vital to both sides but it was Taranaki who slumped further toward the relegation zone as North Harbour ran in nine tries, four of them to wing Tevita Li who has now scored 10 tries.
New Zealand Sevens representative Regan Ware had a powerful showing on the wing for Taranaki but the side was not able to get the ball wide often enough for he and fellow three-quarters Manasa Mataele and Seta Tamanivalu to cut loose.
Saturday’s scores and scorers:
Waikato 42-11 Southland
Scorers
For Waikato
Tries: Samisoni Taukei’aho 2, Dwayne Sweeney, Sevu Reece, Murray Iti, Toby Smith
Cons: Fletcher Smith 6
For Southland
Try: Tauasosi Tuimavave
Pens: James Wilson 2
Taranaki 26-55 North Harbour
Scorers:
For Taranaki
Tries: Regan Ware, Manasa Mataele, Beaudein Waaka, Jesse Parate
Cons: Waaka 3
For North Harbour
Tries: Tevita Li 4, Matt Duffie, Daniel Hilton Jones, Dillon Hunt 2, Mark Telea
Cons: Bryn Gatland 5
Wellington 22-28 Tasman
Scorers
For Tasman
Tries: Finlay Christie, Solomon Alaimalo, Jacob Norris, John Akau’ola-Laula
Con: Mitch Hunt
Pens: Hunt 2
For Wellington
Tries: Xavier Numia, Galu Taufale, Thomas Umaga-Jensen
Cons: Jackson Garden-Bachop 2
Pen: Garden-Bachop
Source: @Mitre10Cup
