Late dropped goal miss gives Canterbury a reprieve

Taranaki's Sam Young (left) and James Hilgendorf crash after taking a high ball against Canterbury. Picture / Fotopress

Taranaki went within a coat of paint of snatching the Ranfurly Shield off Canterbury as the hosts clung on to a 13-11 NPC first division rugby win in Christchurch today.

With less than a minute left on the clock, Taranaki first five-eighth Sam Young had the chance to become a hero but pushed a 22m dropped goal attempt just to the right of the posts.

Canterbury scrambled the ball clear and held on to retain their unbeaten record from four matches this season, while for a heartbroken Taranaki it was their third loss from four.

The challengers did enough to win the match, dominating the first half but not converting their possession into tries.

True to form this season, the defending champions started slowly and were lucky to be level 6-6 at halftime.

After Canterbury fullback Ben Blair opened the scoring with a second minute penalty, Taranaki took charge for the rest of a tryless first half.

But they couldn't pierce Canterbury's defence and blew two tries with handling errors, one from a knock on at a ruck 1m out.

Young missed two of his four penalty attempts in the first half, the second on the hooter which would have given the visitors the lead.

With the words of coach Aussie McLean ringing in their ears, Canterbury came out with more purpose after halftime and looked to have broken the game open.

From a defensive scrum Canterbury worked the ball blind through Blair to wing Scott Hamilton who caught the pass on his own 22m.

He then raced 80m and chipped over the final defender to score a spectacular solo try two minutes after the interval.

Blair's conversion made it 13-6 but the hosts couldn't hammer home the advantage.

Taranaki's forwards, with hooker Andrew Hore prominent, continued to make life tough for Canterbury and they hit back in the 62nd minute when a powerful drive saw prop Tony Penn dive over beside the posts.

Hamilton was again the home side's hero when he charged down Young's conversion attempt, then Canterbury were awarded a penalty on halfway after Taranaki flanker Chris Masoe punched a Canterbury player during the tryscoring movement.

Taranaki made one final raid in the dying minutes but a shattered Young couldn't nail the crucial final attempt.

- NZPA