Shield safe now Canterbury hit the road for Hamilton

You get the feeling Canterbury won't get too carried away with their 52-13 demolition of Southland.

Even with a number of players battling head colds and the late withdrawal of halfback Justin Marshall because of a hamstring strain, the result of Canterbury's opening Ranfurly Shield defence at Jade Stadium was never in question.

Unfancied teams such as Bay of Plenty and Taranaki have added some spark to the NPC by knocking over a few of the big boys this season but no one fancied the chances of the men in maroon on Saturday.

Despite hogging possession and spending most of the first spell in Southland's half, Canterbury led only 14-0 at half time - and half those points came from a dubious penalty try after referee Kelvin Deaker pinged Southland flanker Alando Soakai for detaching from a scrum.

Canterbury would have been disappointed to let Southland score two tries in the closing minutes to Bryan Milne and former Canterbury wing Ryan Glover, but until then the swarming defence had been efficient.

Too often Canterbury's handling let them down in the slippery conditions while some of the backs' passing was sloppy.

Coach Aussie McLean needed no reminding Waikato, who beat Otago 39-27, will provide a much sterner examination in Friday night's crucial showdown in Hamilton.

"There's still plenty of things we need to work on. I think our backs' attack is still not functioning as well as it can with the players we've got but it's still a pretty good win," McLean said.

"We'll need to play better than that against Waikato. I don't think there's any doubt about that. They're starting to go well and scored some pretty good tries against Otago and we've got some improvements to make that's for sure."

As expected Southland wilted in the second half, their energy levels drained by having to defend so furiously.

In the space of 10 minutes in the third quarter, Canterbury scored tries through Marika Vunibaka, Caleb Ralph and new captain Richie McCaw, putting the result beyond doubt and snatching the vital bonus point.

Soon after, Chris Jack barged over for his second and replacement wing Scott Hamilton beat three tacklers to complete the romp.

Daniel Carter did what was required in his new fullback position.

He was replaced in the second spell by Ben Blair, McLean stating the former was battling 'flu.

For obvious reasons McCaw's successful return was a relief and he had lost none of his class during his injury break.

With so little ball, Southland were always going to battle and were not helped by their lineout, which lost six of its own throws under some Canterbury pressure.

Glover made some in-roads when he got the ball, flanker Hale T-Pole worked hard in a beaten pack while No. 8 Paul Miller, in his 50th game, also toiled well.

- NZPA


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