Counties-Manukau 14 Hawkes Bay 45
KEY POINTS:
Counties Manukau's three-season tenure in the top flight of the national championship hit a new low yesterday as they all-but waved the white flag against Hawkes Bay in a shocking defeat at Pukekohe.
Having produced a half-decent effort in a narrow loss to Waikato last week, better things were expected of Counties as they returned to their spiritual home of Growers Stadium for the first time since their shock first-round victory over Auckland.
Instead, they simply failed to turn up, displaying not the faintest hint of defensive heart as they fell behind 28-0 after just 26 minutes.
The Counties Manukau story increasingly appears to be one of haves and have-nots. What they have is a bunch of players who possess raw pace, some skill and plenty of attacking endeavour. What they don't have is many players prepared to die for the cause on defence. They don't even have many prepared to cop a minor flesh wound or two.
A flighty finisher or two can prove an asset to most teams, but a half-dozen of them is nothing short of a liability.
"That first 20 minutes just killed us," Counties skipper Tasesa Lavea said. "It is just simple mistakes in our own half that are killing us at the moment. We have got a lot of young kids and we are all learning the hard way.
"We are just not showing up on the day. It is disappointing when people come out to watch us play, spend their money to watch us back at Puke, it is just embarrassing to be honest."
With the game gone after first-quarter tries to Hikawira Elliott, Chris Eaton and a brace to fullback Israel Dagg, Counties finally decided to play a bit. The result was two wonderfully-constructed, flowing tries to hooker Lance Po Ching and prop Simon Lemalu that cut the half-time deficit to 14, but did nothing to disguise their defensive frailties, or the fact the game was still as good as over.
It might have been more interesting had replacement winger Sherwin Stowers scored on the stroke of half-time after a withering burst of pace down the left touchline, but he was bundled into touch and the Magpies went to the break with a comfortable cushion.
Among the more elusive players in a Magpies back division that didn't suffer too many bruises going about their work, Dagg would have had his hat-trick shortly into the second half but for the ball being dislodged by Lelia Masaga's boot as he went to ground it.
Instead, he had to wait until closer to the finish for a well-deserved third try that served only to pile more misery upon the hapless Steelers. By then a Jason Kupa try, that was again scored without so much as a hand being laid on him, and a Dagg penalty had ensured the Magpies' five-point return from a game that could scarcely be described as a contest.
The result put the Magpies back inside the top four, equal on points with Bay of Plenty but four adrift of Canterbury and 11 back of runaway leaders Wellington.
Mismatches were very much the order of the round, with the only close contests the 21-21 draw between Otago and Tasman in Nelson and Canterbury's deeply unimpressive 5-3 victory over Northland in Whangarei on Friday night.
Four early tries saw Wellington race to an early lead against Waikato and they were never threatened despite conceding five tries in a 45-33 victory, while Southland blitzed North Harbour 43-7 after a similarly convincing first-half display.
Waikato's bonus point was enough to keep them in the top eight, while Otago, Taranaki and Harbour are outside the cut but still in with a chance of claiming playoff spots with three rounds remaining.
