News

Taranaki get the ball rolling

July 30 2009

Taranaki have opened their Air New Zealand Cup campaign with a 21-9 win over hosts Tasman after trailing by six points at half-time in Blenheim on Thursday.

No tries were scored in the opening stanza but it was not due to a lack of trying as both sides threw everything into attack but were let down by classic early-season errors.

Taranaki were doing everything right and setting themselves up to score some points but poor decisions and sloppy play gifted Tasman the opportunity to clear thanks to the boots of fly-half James Marshall and captain Andrew Goodman.

Marshall looked sharp early on, but a knock midway through the half seemed to shake his accuracy - two penalties in the first 15 minutes were followed by two misses as half-time neared.

With Tasman ahead 9-0 at the 20 minute mark, it took Taranaki until the 33rd minute to redress some of the balance through a Willie Ripia penalty that closed the gap to six points at half-time.

A more cohesive team effort from Taranaki saw them pile up 18 unanswered points in the second spell, the first try of the match coming three minutes after the break.

Taranaki were rewarded with possession from some vastly improved defence and wing Jayden Hayward ghosted through some indifferent Tasman tackling to score under the posts.

Ripia added the conversion, and a well-struck long-range penalty extended the Taranaki lead to 13-9 with 25 minutes remaining.

Shayne Austin dotted down to extend the lead to 18-9 following a combined effort from the Taranaki forwards and backs. An uncharacteristic Ripia miss of the conversion gave Tasman brief hope, but the vastly improved Taranaki defence held strong and another Ripia penalty put the result beyond doubt.

As one of the favourites to be relegated to make way for a 10-team top division next season, Tasman will have to improve significantly if they harbour any hopes of playing top-level rugby in 2010.

The scorers:

For Tasman:

Pens: Marshall 2, Goodman

For Taranaki:

Tries: Hayward, Austin

Con: Ripia

Pens: Ripia 3

Tasman: 15 Robbie Malneek, 14 James Kamana, 13 Kade Poki, 12 Afeleki Pelenise, 11 Andrew Goodman (c), 10 James Marshall, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Mark Bright, 7 Jonathan Poff, 6 Dan Hyatt, 5 Joseph Wheeler, 4 James Foster, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Daniel Perrin, 1 Tristan Moran.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Sakaria Taulafo, 18 Daniel Crichton, 19 Zane Winslade, 20 Shaun Begg, 21 Matty James, 22 Blair Cook.

Taranaki: 15 Ace Malo, 14 Nathan Hohaia, 13 Willie Rickards, 12 Shayne Austin, 11 Jayden Hayward, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Brett Goodin, 8 Jarrad Hoeata, 7 Ben Souness, 6 Johnny Willis, 5 Craig Clarke, 4 Leon Power, 3 Shane Cleaver, 2 Laurence Corlett, 1 Tony Penn (c).
Replacements: 16 James Hinchco, 17 Michael Bent, 18 Nemia Soqeta, 19 Chris Walker, 20 Kylem O'Donnell, 21 Jack Cameron, 22 Ed Jenkins.

Venue: Lansdowne Park, Blenheim

Kick-off: 19:35 (07:35 GMT)

Referee: Garratt Williamson