Tasman shock Auckland
Tasman threw the form book out of the window to beat Auckland 30-28 in a tightly contested NPC match on Tuesday at Trafalgar Park.
Auckland’s three match winning streak came to a premature end after the Championship basement dwellers thrilled the home crowd with some excellent rugby against their Premiership opponents.
Tasman drew first blood through some inventive play that ended in a try for flyhalf James Marshall which perhaps should have warned Auckland that this would be the walkover they might have expected.
Auckland were able to score a try in the dying moments of the match after a cheeky kick from Gareth Anscombe lead to a try for Hadleigh Parkes in the corner. Andcombe then needed to land the conversion to share the spoils, but his effort was wide of the posts.
Tasman 30-28 Auckland
The scorers
For Tasman:
Tries: Marshall, Christie, Goodman
Cons: Goodman 3
Pens: Goodman 3
For Auckland:
Tries: Ward, Stanaway, Parkes
Cons: Francis 2
Pens: Francis, Anscombe 2
Teams:
Tasman: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Robbie Malneek, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Andrew Goodman (captain), 11 Lucky Mulipola, 10 James Marshall, 9 Steve Alfeld, 8 Mark Bright, 7 Shane Christie, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Pablo Huete, 3 Sam Prattley, 2 Quentin MacDonald, 1 Fai Mika.
Replacements: 16 Francis Smith, 17 Craig Moore, 18 Tevita Koloamatangi, 19 Vernon Fredericks, 20 Shawn Begg, 21 Jack Umaga, 22 Mitchell Scott, 23 Hamish Cochrane.
Auckland: 15 Brent Ward, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Teddy Stanaway, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Piers Francis, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Chris Lowrey, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Peter Saili, 5 Steven Luatua, 4 Josh Townsend, 3 Tevita Mailau, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Tom McCartney (captain).
Replacements: 16 Pauliasi Manu, 17 Charlie Faumuina, 18 Liaki Moli, 19 Sam Henwood, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Gareth Anscombe, 22 Francis Saili, 23 Angus Ta’avao.
