Tasman choke Turbos' hopes

Tasman 43 Manawatu 0

Chosen even before the competition began as wooden spoon favourites, the Manawatu Turbos responded by looking wooden and spooning a pass that might have got them back in this game.

It came in the first 20 minutes after Tasman had already fashioned a smart try to fullback Robbie Malneek for a 10-0 lead. Midfielder Francis Bryant latched on to a botched Tasman pass and thundered 45m up the sideline.

He didn't have the legs to outpace the cover defence but battered through another tackle and slipped the ball to winger Tomasi Komainaua, who came on an inside run with the line beckoning.

It was still beckoning as the winger, son of the famous Fijian flyer Tomasi Cama, spooned the ball up in the air and the chance was lost. It was a crucial miss. If they'd scored, Manawatu might have hung on and taken advantage of the wind in the second half. But Tasman effectively sealed the match with a second try to Malneek after a bumping run from big prop Ben May and then a try under the bar from flanker Jonathon Poff.

If this match was a grim signal for Manawatu fans, it was also clear that Tasman may lift one or two surprise scalps this year. Their pack had the upper hand in most phases and that gave English speedster Ben Gollings a chance to impress. An England sevens hall of famer, first five-eighths Gollings is trying his hand at the bigger game here but was not particularly impressive in their opening matches against North Harbour and Auckland.

However, given a bit of room by his forwards, Gollings began to run the game smartly, mixing little dabs with clever passes to runners on the angle and the Manawatu defence began to creak and groan alarmingly. Gollings had a hand in the first three tries and his deftness compared well with his rather stolid Manawatu opposite Graham Smith, who looked ill at ease and a bit out of his depth in the first half against the strong breeze.

Malneek, another to benefit from the space, started and finished a sweeping 80m move for his hat-trick try and Gollings outpaced Manawatu when put through a gap to score from a tap penalty. Best of the forwards was hooker Ti'i Paulo and No 8 Corey Holdaway.

Rico Gear, now apparently at peace with his decision to stay at Tasman, played centre but was generally quiet other than surprisingly being run down by Manawatu's Argentinian fullback Francisco Bosch, who showed plenty of speed to later do the same thing to winger Lucky Mulipola.

Other than Bosch, there was little positive Manawatu could take from this match. Their future in this competition looks as bleak as the work of another Bosch, Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch, who specialised in painting scenes from Hell.

Tasman 43 (R. Malneek 3, J. Poff, B. Gollings, T. Paulo tries; Gollings 5 cons, pen).
Manawatu 0.
HT: 24-0