Auckland singing in the rain

Ali Williams runs the ball at Andrew Suniula. Ross Land / Getty Images

Taranaki 3 Auckland 29

Tennis player turned coach Brad Gilbert made millions penning a book that espoused the virtues of Winning Ugly.

Auckland coach Pat Lam makes no apologies for adopting a similar policy when needed.

"After last year [when Taranaki won], the main focus was for us to get a win," he said. "In that first half, there was a lot of effort but the precision wasn't there. I'm just thankful we got the win and the bonus point was exactly that - a bonus."

It looked unlikely when Taranaki led 3-0 until the 47th minute, Auckland continually frustrated by poor handling and a committed Taranaki defence.

"The boys got a little bit rattled and got into little confrontations with Taranaki at breakdown time when it should have been about using the ball."

Auckland had enough class to prevail when it mattered, back rowers Andrew Blowers and Jerome Kaino were impressive, while Lam described lock Brad Mika as "absolutely outstanding".

But still it might have been different if they hadn't benefited from an extraordinary piece of largesse from Taranaki fullback Brendon Watt.

He became Brendon, What? when he employed the rarely sighted defensive chip kick. It's rarity is based on sound reasoning - it rarely, if ever, works.

Kaino gratefully accepted the gift before shovelling the ball to wing Doug Howlett.

Halfback Taniela Moa scored late, as did skipper Sam Tuitupou and Joe Rokocoko but it was Watt's brain-fade that was the game's pivotal moment.

"He saw what he saw and I'll back him for that," forgiving coach Kieran Crowley said. "But we'll have a look at that and have a talk about it. You can't afford to do things like that at this level."

It was nostalgia week in the 'Naki, with the heroes of the 1956 team that drew 3-3 with the Springboks honoured, along with the Ranfurly Shield team of 10 years ago. Auckland left the province without such grandiose memories but with something their opposition would like more than sepia-toned stories - 15 competition points.

There was no great sense of optimism in the province that Taranaki would emulate their illustrious forebears, judging by a crowd that stayed away in their droves. Taranaki's resistance was admirable but Auckland's victory was as inevitable as Middle Eastern conflict and price hikes at the petrol pumps.

Onlookers were left with the distinct impression that Auckland simply didn't want to score in the first half.

Brent Ward missed a simple penalty, passes were dropped with overlaps beckoning and, on the stroke of halftime, Derren Witcombe dropped a sitter after Kaino charged down Watt's attempted clearance from his own line.

It was not as if Taranaki had done much better, only a Miah Nikora penalty to brag about, but it was about as good as they could ask for as Auckland enjoyed an avalanche of possession and territory.

There's a myth commonly perpetuated that Taranaki will beat most teams in the front five but struggle to capitalise on that dominance through a cumbersome backline. Actually it's only part myth: Taranaki still has a cumbersome backline.

"Our defence was really good," Crowley said, "to the extent I thought they ran out of ideas a bit towards the end of the first half. But the amount of tackling we had to do ended up showing in the last 10 minutes."

The second half saw torrential rain that reminded Andrew Blowers of a cold day in the north of England. "She was cold. In the second half when it bucketed down, man, she was cold."

That would have been the signal for most teams to kick to the corners but Auckland had enough class to ignore the conditions. Taranaki didn't.

Taranaki 3 (M. Nikora pen).
Auckland 29 (D. Howlett, T. Moa, S. Tuitupou, J. Rokocoko tries; B. Ward pen 3 con).
HT: 3-0.