Koyamaibole stars for the Steelers

By DAVE WORSLEY

A relieved Counties-Manukau coach, Gary Millington, actually had a smile on his face after his team's 39-10 demolition of East Coast at Pukekohe.

Saturday's win came courtesy of an accurate display by the whole Steelers team. But the standout player was No 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, a three-try hero who consistently smashed his way through the Coast's defence.

"I'm sick of the word 'accuracy', I've said it so many times in the past week," Millington said. "But this time we were accurate."

After the match attention quickly turned to next week's top-of-the-table clash against Hawkes Bay in Napier.

Hawkes Bay are on 28 points with six wins and no losses, while Counties-Manukau have five wins, one draw and 26 points.

"The Bay have been undefeated at home for around 30 games. We see the pressure is all on them," Millington said.

Koyamaibole crossed the tryline six times but was held up once, had one touchdown disallowed and bombed a third.

It took the Steelers only 10 minutes to get on the scoreboard when Koyamaibole scored from a typical burst, with first five-eighths Gavin Donald kicking the conversion.

He added a penalty after Koyamaibole had almost scored again but placed the ball short of the line.

In the 30th minute Koyamaibole scored his second, after once again bursting through and Donald converted.

Right on halftime Counties-Manukau scored through fullback Richard Koroi. Donald added the extras and at the break they led 24-0.

In the second spell East Coast scored first through lock Kerehama Blackman before Koyamaibole crossed for his third and then the inventive Taiasina Tuifua dotted down for the home side.

In the last play of the day Coast wing Rocky Havilli scored a consolation try.


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