Tasman 33 Manawatu 10
KEY POINTS:
Tasman scored three tries to one to beat Manawatu 33-10 in their Air NZ Cup rugby match at Lansdowne Park in Blenheim on Thursday.
They led 13-3 at halftime and lifted both their work and accuracy in the second half to have the game wrapped up by the 50th minute after Tim Taylor had added two more penalty goals and winger Blair Cook had scored their second try.
Cook's converted try to make it 26-3 came when Manawatu were a man short, with prop Hala Talau in the sinbin for a blatant offside in a maul.
Tasman also conceded a try while a man short, Tristan Moran being sinbinned for offside as well in a ruck - and lock Hayden Trigg scored.
Manawatu team took advantage of the momentum they had built and were were on attack again from the kick-off, but lost the ball and Tasman hit back swiftly to score their third try through James Foote in the last minute of the game. It was their second try from a counterattack.
Manawatu first five-eighth Graham Smith missed a second-minute penalty goal and Tasman broke eventually broke the deadlock in the 13th minute. Left winger Afekele Pelenise was released for the line after the Tasman forwards worked extremely hard to inch their way upfield.
Playmaker Taylor opted to switch the attack, enabling fullback Robbie Malneek to enter the attack and put Pelenise through.
Taylor converted the try to the delight of the home crowd.
Smith missed a second kickable penalty but put Manawatu on the scoreboard with his third attempt in the 33rd minute.
Tasman, led by props Ben Franks and Ben May, bringing their Super 14 experience to their forward play and the inspiration provided by All Black Chris Jack's presence, worked their way up to the line again late in the first half.
However, Manawatu turned the ball over but fullback Fransisco Bosch dropped a pass ingoal and Tasman forced a penalty, which Taylor kicked for their 13-3 lead at halftime.
The Tasman forwards took better control of the game in the second half, maintaining the ball with efficient recycling.
As a result, Manawatu came up offside trying to stem the attacks and Taylor punished them with two more penalties. Prop Talau illustrated Manawatu's frustration by trying to stop a maul from the wrong side and was sinbinned.
Manawatu paid for carelessness when loose forward Nick Crosswell ran out of space at the end of the chain attack and chucked the ball back.
Taylor picked up the loose ball, twisted out of a tackle and allowed winger Blair Cook to take over the attack. Cook did well to slip by two defenders in a 35m run to the line. Taylor extended the lead to 26-3 with his conversion.
Then Manawatu scored when Moran was in the sinbin before Foote completed the scoring with a try he converted himself.
Tasman captain Alex Ainley was happy with the improvement from last week's 17-29 loss to Taranaki.
"But it still wasn't quite the 80 minutes we were hoping to play," Ainley told Sky Sports.
"We turned a bit too much ball over, discipline was a problem again."
Ainley said it was a plan to rely on kicking for territory by Taylor, as they had paid the price against Taranaki for trying to run the ball out of their own half.
The influence of Jack couldn't be overstated, Ainley added.
"Chris is huge in our team, he has such experience. The boys feed off him all day at training."
Jack took two clean kick-offs but was penalised three times for offside.
Manawatu skipper Trigg felt his team were still within sight of victory with 25 minutes remaining but they couldn't take advantage of scoring chances.
"As per last week, our mistakes and some poor decision-making really cost us," he said.
"Going backwards - any team finds hard, and we did a lot of that tonight."
Tasman 33 (Afeleke Pelenise, Blair Cook, James Foote tries; Tim Taylor 4 pen, 2 con; Foote con) Manawatu 10 (Hayden Triggs try; Graham Smith pen, Matty James con). Halftime: 13-3.
- NZPA
