Flying Southland winger sinks Taranaki's hopes

Southland 20 Taranaki 17

Southland put themselves in the box seat for a provincial quarter-finals spot when they dealt a massive blow to Taranaki's hopes in Invercargill last night.

In a high-speed, open match between two evenly matched sides, it was quick Southland winger Watisoni Lotawa who effectively destroyed Taranaki with two brilliant tries in the first half.

It was Southland's second win in the repechage having beaten Tasman 23-14 last week. They play their final match against Northland in the next round.

A desperate Taranaki, coming off a shock 23-17 loss to Northland last week, showed they were not short of spirit after trailing 14-10 at halftime, levelling the scores 17-17 in the 63rd minute.

Southland first five-eighths Blair Stewart, who missed only one shot from six attempts against Tasman, restored his perfect kicking record, when he slotted the winning penalty in the 67th minute with his fourth scoring shot of the game.

Lotawa's first try in the sixth minute demonstrated his strength and his second, on halftime, was a display of his aerial agility.

Standing in the tackle on the 22, Lotawa slipped out of it like an eel and turned on the afterburners to leave the Taranaki cover defence grasping thin air.

Taranaki overcame a slow start to score twice next.

First five-eighths Miah Nikora kicked a penalty in the eighth minute and then prop Census Johnson barged over close to the posts.

Lotawa's second try was delivered courtesy of Stewart's pinpoint crossfield kick from the right. The left wing rose above fullback Scott Ireland to pluck the ball out of the air.

- NZPA