Wins for Tasman and Northland

NPC FRIDAY WRAP: Tasman unleashed their frustrations from the heavy loss to Auckland in their last NPC game to thrash hapless Taranaki 53-17 in Nelson on Friday.

It was an emphatic statement by the Tasman side who were relentless in hounding Taranaki all night to produce an effort that lifted them to a share of second place ahead of the Canterbury-Auckland game on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Northland crushed Manawatu 49-19.

Both teams came into this clash with just one win on the board in 2018 and desperate to lift themselves into the playoffs race. While the pressure was high on both teams, Manawatu had recent history on their side with seven straight wins over the Taniwha since 2010.

Tasman 53-17 Taranaki

The home pack laid a fine foundation, putting pressure on the Taranaki scrum and showing plenty of solidity in defence. Hooker Andrew Makalio scored two of the side’s seven tries and prop Tyrell Lomax scored another.

A classic first five-eighths break by Mitchell Hunt split Taranaki’s close defence and took play 40m to the Taranaki goalmouth and in 12 phases of driving at the line, it was prop Tyrell Lomax who blasted his way low over the line for the try.

Continuing the lucrative night for the home front row hooker Andrew Makalio scored twice, the first in the 33rd coming after an 11-phase build-up and the second, four minutes later after good lead-up work by second five-eighths David Havili and new No.8 Tania Fox-Matamua, saw Makalio slip the defensive line stylishly to run 15m for the line to score.

Tasman, in the first half dominated position (69-31 percent) and possession (73-27 while breaking 15 tackles to four while Taranaki had to make 63 tackles to Tasman’s 19.

Try as Taranaki might they were unable to take advantage of the chances they created, especially in the third quarter when they gained much needed time in Tasman’s 22m area, only to lose the ball in key plays. An early one saw lock Leighton Price stripped of the ball by Havili which allowed their line to be cleared and then Havili executed an intercept from replacement halfback Logan Crowley’s pass to clear out on an 80m run in the 50th minute.

Finally, however, a show of patience involving 23 phases of play in the Tasman red zone, much of it within five metres of the goalline, resulted in first five-eighths Ciarhan Matoe sliding through for their first try.

Any hopes of a late revival from the visitors were immediately extinguished by lock Pari Pari Parkinson who capped an outstanding and vigorous evening by taking a midfield gap to power ahead, throw a high pass inside to centre Levi Aumua who in turn passed inside for Hunt to cross and take Tasman out to a 41-10 lead.

As the game opened up Taranaki got back on attack and when wing Manasa Mataele exploded into one backline move he was grounded short of the line for replacement Kane Thompson to score.

Tasman’s response was emphatic with fullback Will Jordan tidying up loose ball after 18 phases to score in the 70th minute and then wing Solomon Alaimalo charged onto a short pass from a ruck to score in the 73rd minute.

The Scorers:

For Tasman:
Tries: Tyrell Lomax, Andrew Makalio 2, David Havili, Mitchell Hunt, Will Jordan, Solomon Alaimalo
Cons: Mitchell Hunt 5, Timothy O’Malley
Pens: Mitchell Hunt 2

For Taranaki:
Tries: Ciearhan Matoe 2
Cons: Beaudein Waaka 2
Pen: Beaudein Waaka

Northland 49-19 Manawatu

It looked like that winning streak was set to continue if the first five minutes were anything to go by. The Turbos recycled the ball perfectly and soaked up defenders in the middle of the park before centre Rob Thompson showed his danger with a break and offload to set up James Tofa for the opening try.

But aside from that and one other bright spark to speedster Junior Laloifi, that was to be it for the Turbos in the first half as the Taniwha brought their home crowd to their feet with a mix of hard running forward play and expansive ball movement to make it 34-12 at the break.

Manawatu needed to strike early in the second half if they were to claw their way back into the game and swung onto attack early in the half. Just as it looked like they were about to score, Northland fullback Matt Wright picked up a loose ball and passed to Kara Pryor who went 80 metres to score. It looked like Wright had knocked the ball on though, but the TMO couldn’t find enough evidence to overturn and the try stood to the dismay of the Turbos team who were still at half way.

It was a killer blow for Manawatu and at 41-12 down there was no coming back for the visitors.

Both teams traded tries to close out the game but it was Northland’s night as they closed out the bonus point 49-19 win.

The victory lifted Northland from fifth to third on the ladder while Manawatu are in sixth place and will need to string together some wins if they are to challenge for a playoffs position.

The Scorers

For Northland:
Tries: Matt Matich, Jordan Olsen, Jordan Hyland, Scott Gregory, Kara Pryor, Blake Hohaia, Jack Debreczeni
Cons: Jack Debreczeni 4
Pens: Jack Debreczeni 2

For Manawatu
Tries: James Tofa, Junior Laloifi, Adrian Wyrill
Cons: Sam Malcolm, Otere Black

@Mitre10Cup