Rugby: Manawatu beat Counties

Manawatu bounced off the ropes in the second half to beat Counties Manukau 36-31 in their Air NZ Cup rugby match at Palmerston North today.

Trailing 14-24 at halftime, Manawatu outscored Counties three tries to one after the breather and snatch an unlikely win to the delight of their fans.

Counties needed just 36 seconds to score after Manawatu failed to control the kickoff.

Fullback Ahsee Tuala snaffled the loose ball and burst down the blindside flank before feeding blindside flanker Sikeli Nabou for the dot-down.

The early gift saw Counties build on that momentum and add three more tries through prop Simon Lemalu, dangerous winger Lelia Masaga and the industrious Tuala.

Manawatu kept themselves in the game with three Aaron Cruden penalties and a try to fullback Casey Stone who finished off a counterattack started by skipper Nick Croswell on the opposite flank.

The Manawatu pack, with Croswell prominent, emphatically answered coach Dave Rennie's call for more commitment in the second half and proceeded to outplay Counties in possession and territory.

They narrowed the gap through a try to second five-eighth Frank Bryant.

But Manawatu immediately coughed up another try to Counties' Josh Hall when they bungled the kickoff and the first five-eighth collected the loose ball to step inside the cover defence and score handy to the posts for a 31-19 lead.

Fullback Stone provided much-needed inspiration for Manawatu when he chased down and tackled Tuala who looked certain to score after an intercept from inside his own half.

In a purple patch of 10 minutes after Stone's heroics, Manawatu put Counties under sustained pressure and substitute centre Tevita Taufui scored two tries that were converted by Cruden.

Manawatu sewed up the game with another Cruden penalty in the 69th minute.

- NZPA