Rugby: Taranaki fire up for opening win

Eighteen unanswered second-half points gave Taranaki a hard-earned 21-9 win over Tasman in the opening round of rugby's Air NZ Cup in Blenheim last night.

In calm, cool conditions at Landsdowne Park, Taranaki overcame an indifferent start and dominated to keep Tasman scoreless in the second spell after they led 9-3 at the break.

Both teams were guilty of wasting field position early in the match, Taranaki in particular coughing up possession inside their own 22 and having to scramble to cover Tasman's counterattack.

However, a lack of patience on the southerners' part meant try-scoring opportunities went begging, even given Taranaki's patchy defence which resulted in 13 missed tackles in the first half.

Talented Tasman first five-eighth James Marshall looked sharp early on, but a knock midway through the half seemed to shake his accuracy - two penalties in the first 15 minutes were followed by two misses as halftime neared.

A monster 50m-plus penalty from captain Andrew Goodman put Tasman ahead 9-0 at the 20 minute mark, and it took Taranaki until the 33rd minute to redress some of the balance through a Willie Ripia penalty.

As expected, Taranaki started to exert dominance at the breakdown as the game progressed, but couldn't put together enough phases to pose any real threat and Tasman went into the break with a six-point lead.

A more cohesive team effort from Taranaki saw them pile up 18 unanswered points in the second spell, the first try of the match coming three minutes after the break.

Taranaki were rewarded with possession from some vastly improved defence and wing Jayden Hayward ghosted through some indifferent Tasman tackling to score under the posts.

Ripia added the conversion, and a well-struck long-range penalty extended the Taranaki lead to 13-9 with 25 minutes remaining.

Ripia featured in Taranaki's second try, as the Taranaki lineout and forward drive combined to set up the backs, then a sweeping one-handed Ripia pass found second five-eighth Shayne Austin who dotted down to extend the lead to 18-9.

An uncharacteristic Ripia miss of the conversion gave Tasman brief hope, but the vastly improved Taranaki defence held strong and another Ripia penalty put the result beyond doubt with 10 minutes remaining.

- NZPA