Waikato 22 Southland 11
KEY POINTS:
If there are still some stubborn souls who can't understand why Brendon Leonard ranks high among current All Black halfbacks, this match must have helped enlighten them.
Pelting rain, soggy pools of surface water, a danger of ducks moving in from nearby Hamilton lake - conditions tailor-made for
Southlanders and for a tenacious customer like former All Black halfback Jimmy Cowan.
But Leonard has another prime quality to go with the speed of his breaks around ruck and maul. He is fast of pass and an ever-present organiser at the foot of the rucks.
Even in conditions not much fun for halfbacks, that snap pass arrives in the first-five's hands faster than most and, in these days of efficient defences, that split-second extra bit of time is important.
Cowan is no slouch and is considered by many as unlucky to have missed the All Blacks after the selectors dumped Piri Weepu.
But he looked just a touch slower of foot and pass, things which may be vital in France where there will be even less time for any halfback who wants to take a step or two and then crank his pass before throwing it.
Waikato's backline, pound for pound the more dangerous unit anyway, enjoyed the flying start Leonard gave them on the odd occasion there was clean ball and always looked more likely to bust through.
Not that it did them much good to start with. Southland drove well and contested aggressively at the breakdown. They also played the conditions intelligently.
First-five James Wilson put up some towering, swirling kicks and aimed for territory.
They deserved to be level 6-6 at halftime, even if the game was largely a kicking contest, from hand and tee. They also produced some stern defence, missing from their home loss to Hawke's Bay last week.
The extra speed and mobility of Waikato told in the second half, however. They forced more breaks and half-breaks and first-five Stephen Donald kicked for goal immaculately.
Southland, on the other hand, looked to have fewer options with the ball in hand and little in the way of a game plan other than playing for territory and peppering young fullback Jared Payne with kicks, most of which he coped with well enough.
Waikato finally broke through when a Leonard pass saw Donald put Sione Lauaki, on from the bench, through a tackler and Dwayne Sweeney neatly cruised past scrambling Southland defenders to score from 40m.
Waikato also brought on Jono Gibbes, returning from injury, in the second half - underlining that, even though Lauaki and Leonard will soon be lost to the World Cup, they will still have some heavyweight troops for this year's assault on the Air NZ Cup.
Southland will be a lot more satisfied with this loss than the rather tame surrender in Invercargill to the Bay.
Lock forward Kane Thompson bashed away all game as did fellow lock Hoani Macdonald and loose forward Tim Boys. Wilson underscored a good match with a determined try in the corner but, even though the rain relented in the second half, Southland are yet to get their feet wet in terms of a win.
Waikato 22 (D. Sweeney try; S. Donald con, 5 pen), Southland 11 (J. Wilson try; 2 pen). Halftime: 6-6
