KEY POINTS:
Southland finally broke their Air NZ Cup rugby duck by weathering a belated Taranaki resurgence to cling on for a 25-20 victory in New Plymouth today.
Tries either side of halftime by influential halfback Jimmy Cowan and pivot James Wilson appeared to have Southland on the verge of maximum points at Yarrow Stadium.
But they had to settle for a hard-fought third round victory after Taranaki finally dusted off a Ranfurly Shield challenge hangover in the second period.
Mirroring the lethargic performance produced by last weekend's fellow Shield combatant, North Harbour, at Counties-Manukau on Friday night, Taranaki barely featured in the first half as Southland constructed a 20-3 lead at the break.
Crippled by a glut of unforced handling errors and again undermined by a misfiring lineout, Taranaki looked on the skids until the injection of reserve halfback Brett Goodin prompted a momentum shift.
No.8 Tomasi Soqeta actually started an overdue resurgence when he carried three Southland defenders over the line in the 50th minute for the first of Taranaki's three face-saving tries.
Although replays were inconclusive for television match official Chris Pollock, referee Paul Honiss backed his first instinct and awarded the try.
Goodin, who replaced Matt France shortly after halftime supplied the second when his clever chip to the right flank was swooped up by flying wing Asalemo Malo to reduce the margin to 13-25 entering the final quarter.
Unfortunately for the home side Scott Ireland could convert neither score and although he slotted a tricky effort on the right hand touchline after Jack Cameron dotted down from a Tony Penn offload, Southland maintained enough composure to survive the last seven minutes.
Taranaki will rue how long it took to climb into the contest and will again examine their lineout strategy after four throws from All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore failed to hit the target.
A glaring deficiency that sabotaged their tilt at the Log o' Wood last Saturday night was again evident in the 10th minute when a defensive lineout throw when badly awry.
Courtney McKay could only palm the ball into the path of quick reacting Southland prop Jamie Mackintosh who proved unstoppable from close range.
The front rower was to the fore again when Southland struck on halftime when his barge to the brink of the chalk resulted in the industrious Cowan dummying over by the posts for Wilson to add the easy extras.
A quick lineout throw also paid dividends for the Stags in the 42nd minute when a long Cowan pass put replacement wing Willie Rickards into space before he kicked ahead for Wilson and Macdonald to race each other to the touch down.
Cowan was also typically prominent on defence, particularly when snuffing out a rare Taranaki raid in the 23rd minute when his grab on counterpart France saw the ball bounce forward.
Southland's four-point haul see them replace Highlanders' franchise partner Otago in 10th place while Taranaki's bonus point leaves them in ninth on six points.
NZPA
