Rugby: Auckland fail southern test

Auckland's John Afoa seems to be in need of more match time. Photo / Getty Images

Auckland knew what the response would be from Canterbury on Saturday; they just couldn't deal with it.

Both sides were coming off muddling performances in the last round but Canterbury had lost and were under the pump. Some of their star roster had returned and they smelled an Auckland carcass to plunder.

They began at a rugged tempo. Auckland coughed up two early tries and a 15-point deficit inside 10 minutes. The game was as good as gone if Canterbury kept their balance. They did.

"We didn't front up," Auckland coach Mark Anscombe agreed. "It was an awful start, we defended well in stages but if we want to be serious about this competition we have got to be better than that. They had a purpose to front up but we were flat.

"Winning breeds confidence and we have to get some of that back because Taranaki this week are going very well."

Auckland lost tighthead prop Charlie Faumuina early because of flu while the integration of All Blacks Benson Stanley and John Afoa brought little impact. They look as though they need to play more rugby rather than training and holding tackle bags with the All Blacks.

Too often Auckland turned over possession as they tried to play catchup. Their only reward, apart from Matt Berquist penalties, came six minutes from time when Onosai Auvaa scored from a tap penalty.

Meantime Canterbury glided round their home patch as their pack did the business. On the back of that, Colin Slade was snappy, Robbie Fruean extra dangerous and Sean Maitland showed the value of flat-out speed.

Wing Dave Thomas and fullback Brent Ward both suffered head knocks which left them even more dazed about the outcome with Thomas an unlikely starter this weekend.

Canterbury were sharp after their latest loss to Tasman. They bristled with purpose, they had a snap about all their work and delivered a performance which was vastly different from a week ago.

After the early scoring flurry, Anscombe had hooked an ailing Faumuina, Charles Pitau and Peter Saili and the match entered its arm-wrestle stage, broken by bits of magic from Fruean and Maitland.

"They fronted, they were more physical than us at the breakdowns, they had their reasons for getting things sorted and we did not respond," Anscombe said. "We ended up playing as individuals and that reduces the grunt you can apply to a game.

"Five games into our season and we need to be better than that. Taranaki won't let us off the hook if we play like that again so we have got to get it right everywhere this week."