Auckland's Charles Piutau looks to fend in their win over Taranaki. Photo / Getty
Auckland's Charles Piutau looks to fend in their win over Taranaki. Photo / Getty
Auckland 30 Taranaki 24
Auckland will win matches much easier than this without dominating as much as they did against the defending ITM Cup Premiership champions.
Eden Park was bathed in sunshine, and both sides seemed to relish the optimal conditions for attacking rugby, but Auckland had the lion's share of ball while Taranaki could not get a lot going, despite a rugged pack and useful backline.
It was left to replacement centre Rieko Ioane, all of 18, to put the exclamation point on the display, and the bonus point, with a scoop up and bolt from 50m in the final minute.
But until that point the home team could not shake a tenacious Taranaki. Their captain Charlie Ngatai scored an intercept try against the run of play to keep the margin at four for much of the second spell.
A power outage at the ground in the morning meant some of the south stand was opened for fans to watch in the sun. There was a decent crowd of around 6000, roughly half that for the 1A First XV final 24 hours beforehand.
Wing Charlie Piutau played with plenty of zest, tackling hard and running with punch. He set up his Pakuranga clubmate Joe Edwards for what should have been a try, but Kurt Baker pulled off a miraculous tackle on the line on the Auckland No 6.
Auckland No 14 Ben Lam gave a glimpse of his strong recent form with a 50m solo burst, exhibiting a powerful fend and pace, outstripping the defence. For a fleeting moment he reminded one of a certain great right wing who graced this ground a quarter of a century ago. But then he mucked around with the ball in his 25m, putting Akira Ioane under pressure. The upshot was a turnover and a try to Taranaki centre Sean Wainui just seconds later.
George Moala, who was as hard to contain as ever in the No 12 jersey, scored Auckland's second after a surge by fullback Lolagi Visinia.
Last year's ITM Cup player of the year and fringe All Black Seta Tamanivalu entered the fray at halftime but received few opportunities and left the ball behind for the younger Ioane to pounce, though he did put a bellringing tackle on Simon Hickey.
There was time for no less than five debuts for Auckland, but their best were lock Liaki Moli, loosie Edwards, Piutau, Moala and Simon Hickey.
Auckland host Canterbury on Saturday in a marquee Premiership clash, while Taranaki welcome Otago to New Plymouth later that day.
Auckland 30 (Ben Lam, George Moala, Simon Hickey, Rieko Ioane tries; Jono Hickey 2 con, 2 pen) Taranaki 24 (Sean Wainui, Charlie Ngatai tries; Marty McKenzie con, 3 pen, Codey Rei pen) Halftime: 20-16
