League: Rain turns Bartercard semi into bash fest

Mt Albert 29 Counties-Manukau 22

Mt Albert Lions will be praying injury does not ruin their Bartercard Cup title defence after mid-game rain turned their preliminary final yesterday against the bigger Counties-Manukau side into a bash-a-thon.

Their captain, Steve Buckingham, is among those doubtful after sustaining an injury that sent him from the field briefly during the Lions' win.

Buckingham came back to handle in the decisive try to wing Andreas Bauer and then kicked a field goal to seal things.

The Jetz made two huge blunders on their own goal-line to concede a game they might otherwise have won and coach Dean Hunter later lamented their lack of experience under pressure in finals.

"We're a young team with a couple of 30-year-olds, there's no middle ground, there's hardly any finals experience. We'll learn a lot from this."

That's assuming the Jetz, who want to remain as they are through the reorganisation of the competition, are given that licence by New Zealand Rugby League. Certainly the shift up the table to third place will help Hunter's case as he reapplies for the coaching job.

After a 12-10 score at the break, the Lions increased their lead with two tries in 10 minutes mid-second, both resulting from forced errors.

First, the Jetz tried to run-and-pass the ball out from their line after the last-tackle kick when simple cover and solidity was required.

Next, they failed to cover a bomb from Buckingham, with hard-working second rower Daniel O'Regan and then Warriors development wing Rowan Baxter there to score. For each, it was their second touchdown, testament to enthusiasm and smart support play.

The Jetz came back when Perese ran in off a scrum at the 10m mark, then Andrew Wharton bustled through some tiring defence.

With the help of Lee Tamatoa's accurate boot, the Jetz closed to 24-22 before the Lions closed it out.

Opposite Brian McClennan said his players knew they'd been in a game.

"We're beat up," he said. "We were unlucky that it rained. It closed the game up, we had to change our options.

"We like playing on top of the ground and today that just wasn't possible."

Their lock, Regan Wigg, was the toughest player on the field in a very tough game, where big tackles consistently produced errors.

The Jetz' bench player, Frank Perese, was lucky to stay on the field for a late coat-hanger on Lions centre Paul Fisi'ahi. The tackle was put on report by ref Arthur Clark who didn't see it and was responding to a touch judge's account.

McClennan didn't want to comment directly on that but did have some thoughts on ill-discipline in the Jetz' game. "They get too over-exuberant. With the talent they have they can play some better football than that."

They had studied the tape of their loss to Canterbury last weekend at length. There were improvements they could make ahead of next Sunday's grandfinal with the Bulls at Ericsson, McClennan said. They'll need to improve a lot. Neither of the teams on display yesterday would have downed the Bulls.