Counties-Manukau 17
Auckland 6
KEY POINTS:
Counties-Manukau gave Air NZ Cup rugby's established order another poke in the eye today with a shock win over Auckland at Pukekohe.
They beat 2007 champions Auckland 17-6 at Pukekohe as the opening round of upset results continued.
After Northland downed Waikato and Manawatu beat Canterbury, Counties-Manukau maintained the trend by securing their first victory over Auckland since 1998.
Any rugby novice who happened upon the match venue today could be excused for failing to identify the two sides by reputation, with Counties-Manukau, who went through last season without a win, looking the superior outfit in many areas.
They totally controlled the first half when they played into the breeze but somehow found themselves down 0-3 at halftime.
Their forwards outmuscled their more illustrious rivals, the midfield pairing of Romi Ropati and Niva Ta'auso caused Auckland all sorts of headaches and all the momentum was with Counties-Manukau.
However, they kept frittering away their points scoring opportunities, with first five-eighth Dean Cummins astray with three penalty attempts while Counties-Manukau also managed to butcher a genuine tryscoring chance in the 11th minute.
The culprit on that occasion was left wing Siale Piutau, who spilled the ball in the tackle with the tryline open after he ignored the presence of unmarked teammate Lelia Masaga outside him.
So, having thrown away such a gilt-edged opportunity, Counties-Manukau then had to watch as Auckland made sure of their only chance, with first-five Lachie Munro nailing a penalty from the left-handed touchline in the 30th minute.
Lam's halftime lecture led to more structure in their game and Munro's second penalty made it 6-0 shortly after the restart.
But Counties-Manukau hit the lead for the first time 17 minutes into the second half when Ta'auso picked up a loose pass and slid over the tryline, for Cummins to convert from a handy angle.
That raised the previously unthinkable, as Counties-Manukau were now positioned to secure their first win over Auckland in a decade.
The crowd started finding its voice as Counties-Manukau flanker DJ Forbes was held up over the tryline in the 29th minute when he surged forward after accepting a loose Auckland lineout throw.
The noise levels rose again a minute later when replacement back Tanner Vili slammed over a 48m dropped goal and it began to dawn on those assembled that a huge upset was in the makings.
Vili turned that into reality nine minutes out from fulltime when he burrowed over the tryline despite the close attention of three tacklers for Counties-Manukau to celebrate a famous day for the unfashionable province.
- NZPA
