Counties go down, but stand tall in Shield challenge

Canterbury 32 Counties M. 16

It might be small consolation, but Counties Manukau's rugby progress continued in a spirited Ranfurly Shield challenge at Jade Stadium yesterday.

OK, Canterbury effectively sewed it up in a three-try, 11-minute burst in the first half, but there was plenty to admire about Counties' second-half work.

Some teams might have laid down at the interval. Instead, Counties, chasing their first shield win, stood tall, scored the first 13 points of the half to give themselves a sniff of what would have been a boilover with a capital B.

With Andrew van der Heijden a dominant lineout figure, blindside flanker Kristian Ormsby bullocking about to strong purpose and centre Niva Ta'auso punching holes in the Canterbury defence, this was a stirring effort in which the visitors had the bulk of possession.

But Canterbury have been in tight spots before and hung on, played the bulk of the final 20 minutes at - for them - the right end of the park. Replacement Kieran Read's charge to the Counties Manukau line after the final hooter gave Canterbury a bonus point and second place in pool B of the Air New Zealand Cup.

That ensured a second home game in the top six playoff, as they pipped Otago in the final shakedown.

But it was the three-try burst - wing Scott Hamilton ending a fine backline move, lock Isaac Ross, on hand when first five-eighths Stephen Brett lobbed a cross kick to the right corner and Brett himself with a classy chip, regather and 40m sprint - that seemed to have shut Counties Manukau out by the 24th minute.

Counties showed they possess commendable qualities with a try constructed through several pairs of hands, with flankers James Maher and Ormsby influential figures before van der Heijden barged across.

A couple of Blair Feeney penalties and with 14 minutes left, the margin was nine points.

One critical moment happened just after van der Heijden's try. With Counties on a real roll, they opted to kick a penalty towards the corner and construct something from the resulting lineout.

However Troy Nathan's kick went dead in a bad blunder. There were no guarantees, of course, but it took some of the puff out of Counties' sails. Still, they picked up bonus points in five of their six pool games and will go into the repechage with plenty of heart.

It was Canterbury's 14th defence of the shield.

* Bay of Plenty and Taranaki have flattered to deceive this season, but the Bay nabbed the points in slushy Mt Maunganui, 20-16.

They were jammy to be awarded a try to winger Anthony Tahana. The burly Tahana appeared to have been shoved out just before forcing the ball, but he got the benefit of the doubt.

Taranaki managed only one try too, smart work by captain Paul Tito helping set up No 8 Scott Waldrom.

* Only one try in Invercargill too, and this one went to the losers. Hawkes Bay halfback Danny Lee's effort helping the Bay to turn a 9-0 halftime deficit into an 11-9 lead before first five-eighths Blair Stewart kicked a further two penalties to nail a 15-11 win.

* Wellington, up 20-8 at halftime, eased away from Tasman, winning 39-25 in the capital.

Tana Umaga bagged one of Wellington's five tries a minute after coming on to end his several weeks out with a thumb injury.