Auckland make victory tough for Canterbury

Auckland replacement Kurtis Haiu runs into Canterbury's Reuben Thorne, (R) Daniel Carter (L) and Campbell Johnstone. Ross Land / Getty Images

The Ranfurly Shield stays in Christchurch, but Auckland do at least have the consolation that they didn't die wondering.

The thrills and spills we have seen from Auckland all season were once again on show last night. It's just that Canterbury are far too savvy to be taken in by rugby's equivalent of fluttering eyelashes.

Substance not style is required to relieve these Cantabs of their treasured piece of wood and Auckland ultimately came up a touch short on the latter.

Just like Taranaki and Wellington before them, Auckland got Canterbury all wobbly. When it came to driving the stake through the heart, though, they got a whiff of garlic and couldn't do it.

Their deadliest weapon turned out to be Brent Ward's boot, whose second-half penalties put them within striking distance.

But that wasn't enough to conquer a Canterbury side full of running and enterprise. None more so than the bruising No 8 Mose Tuiali'i, who probably played his way back into the All Black frame.

Auckland can, however, satisfy themselves this morning that they didn't fail for want of trying. They certainly played with passion and grit - even a touch of niggle, too.

The problem for Auckland, though, was they could dance and skip and toss the ball out of the fiercest contact, but there was still a solid red wall in front of them.

That was partly due to the efficiency of the home side. But Auckland were also a little gun-shy, choosing to run to the touchlines instead of going up the guts.

And once again they were guilty of making unforced handling errors when they had created the half gap. The worst botch came from Ward, who otherwise had a fine game, when he failed to gather a long Tasesa Lavea pass which struck him square on the bonce. If he was playing the round ball code, there wouldn't have been a goalkeeper in the world that would have stopped it.

Auckland's other big blunder was not taking out a restraining order on Richie McCaw. He looked rustier than Paul Tito's head last week in his first game back but last night was back to his imperious best.

The ball had hardly a moment's peace without McCaw's mitts mercilessly pawing at it.

Auckland are all about continuity, which was kind of hard to achieve with the unwelcome presence of McCaw throwing his considerable spanner in the works.

He didn't always do it legally, then again he never does. Nor did Canterbury spend too much time defending legally. But champion sides have always manipulated officials and pushed the boundaries.

Auckland just couldn't get the numbers to the breakdown quickly enough to recycle quickly and keep committing the Canterbury defence.

Without momentum, Steve Devine and Lavea were operating with limited time and space and the men outside them seemingly had the mistaken belief that it would be considered bad form if they were to accept possession while in motion.

There was also the unusual sight of the Auckland scrum coming under real pressure. Canterbury lost Greg Somerville within a minute, but that didn't stop them from giving their guests an uncomfortable evening, with John Afoa and Saimone Taumoepeau under pressure.

If these two meet in the final, one suspects the Aucklanders will be hungry for revenge in an area where they take considerable pride.

Auckland might also take time to ponder whether they came out with the fires burning as brightly as they should have been.

Barely five minutes had passed before Mose Tuiali'i became Moses Tuiali'i, such was the ease with which he parted the Auckland sea. With the defence split, some crisp handling from Aaron Mauger put Ben Blair over in the corner.

Corey Flynn then emerged from the bottom of an impressive rolling maul grinning from ear to ear, after putting Canterbury 10-0 ahead midway through the first half.

Reuben Thorne finished a classy move that started with a powerful Caleb Ralph break, was taken on by Tuiali'i and then straightened up by Daniel Carter. Scott Hamilton finished a well-worked break in the final quarter to make the game safe.

The three scores highlighted the difference between the two teams. Auckland had enough possession to emulate their hosts. But all four of Canterbury's tries required composure and accuracy - qualities that Auckland lacked.

Canterbury 27

(B. Blair, C. Flynn, R. Thorne, S. Hamilton tries; B. Blair con; D. Carter con, pen)

Auckland 12

(B. Ward 4 pens)

- HERALD ON SUNDAY