KEY POINTS:
Southland piled on 34 points in the second half to score their biggest win in the Air NZ Cup rugby competition in Invercargill tonight.
They beat Counties-Manukau 47-10, crossing for five tries - four in the second half - to secure a bonus point which moved them into sixth position in the competition temporarily.
Openside flanker Dion Bates collected two tries, with first five-eighth Blair Stewart booting 22 points from four penalties and all five conversions in a flawless kicking exhibition.
They led 13-3 at halftime after scoring just one try, through Bates, and with Stewart giving them a head-start with two penalties in the second half - as he did in the first half -the homeside rolled Counties with four more five-pointers through fullback James Wilson, blindside flanker Hua Tamariki, a second by bates and front rower Jamie Mackintosh.
Southland deserved their 10-point lead at halftime though it could have been 13-12 had Counties' playmaker Troy Nathan been more accurate with his goalkicking than just one from four.
He missed the first two shots at goal while Stewart was on target with his first pair.
Nathan managed to cut the margin when he eventually got his radar right in the 26th minute.
By then Southland were starting to make inroads to their opponents' 22.
Counties appeared careless at crucial moments, both on attack and on defence. One such lapse occurred near their 22 when they failed to feed the scrum quick enough and gifted Southland possession.
The home side attacked forward and sideways and ended up in touch but Counties knocked-on in the lineout and Southland gratefully got hold of the ball for a second time close to the line.
This time they made sure, and from the ensuing scrum Bates raced through untouched. Stewart converted and Southland led 13-3.
Nathan had another chance to cut the margin after Counties looked more determined to cross the line. But again reckless handling denied them advancing on the blindside of a scrum. While their backs looked like penetrating, no-one would straighten up the attacks to allow their fast three-quarters like Lelia Masaga enough space. Generally, their handling was poor.
The second half was similar to the first, with Southland taking their chances in slotting two penalties before they took firm control of the game.
Counties erred in allowing a high ball bounce. Wilson had lifted a bomb, chased it and beat a defender over the line to score in the 58th minute, with Stewart kicking the conversion.
Bates scored his second try in the 64th minute, with Southland screwing the scrum in Counties' put-in and Bates intercepted a back-pass near the ingoal to score..
Stewart converted and repeated the success when Tamariki and Mackintosh scored.
Counties' captain Kristian Ormsby, who went in late in the game, scored a consolation try in the 78th minute.
Southland 47 (Dion Bates 2, James Wilson, Hua Tamariki, James Mackintosh tries; Blair Stewart 4 pen, 5 con), Counties-Manukau 10 (Kristian Ormsby try; Troy Nathan pen, Nigel Staniforth con). Halftime: 13-3.
- NZPA
