Sleepy Lions dispatch Taranaki with second-half blitz

Lions fullback Geordan Murphy scored two tries in four minutes. Picture / Reuters

Lions 36 Taranaki 14


A scratchy midweek Lions side awoke from their first-half slumber to subdue a fired up Taranaki 36-14 in the second match of their rugby tour tonight.

The tourists, with only captain Martin Corry a test certainty, played like second stringers in the first half and trailed 6-7 at the interval.

But four second-half tries sealed Taranaki's fate before a packed Yarrow Stadium crowd of 22,450 as the Lions take their unbeaten record into Saturday's big match against New Zealand Maori in Hamilton.

Impressive Irish fullback Geordan Murphy's two late tries in four minutes blew out the score.

Taranaki scored two tries, the second on fulltime to replacement back Brendon Watt.

The Lions did not impress in the first spell but normal service resumed in the second half when replacement prop Gethin Jenkins steadied a creaky scrum and the Lions forwards played more as a pack, with Welsh No 8 Michael Owen a prominent figure.

First five-eighth Charlie Hodgson controlled play well and kicked 16 points, along with a delightful crosskick for Murphy's second try.

There was little for the crowd to enthuse over in a tense, messy first half as the Lions showed little cohesion.

Taranaki's loose forwards, led by standout No 7 Chris Masoe, forced turnovers with solid pack defence and the home team's scrum had a noticeable edge over a wobbly Lions eight.

The match sparked up when Taranaki captain Paul Tito and fiery England lock Danny Grewcock clinched and traded punches, Grewcock reopening a stitched cut above Tito's left eye.

Taranaki lost fullback Scott Ireland when his head accidentally met Lewis Moody's elbow, and then wing Sailosi Tagicakibau, who was struggling with a leg injury.

The Lions missed chances and should have opened the scoring in the ninth minute when a slick Hodgson cross kick found Shane Horgan whose pass to try-bound Murphy went forward; and an 80m breakout saw Irish wing Denis Hickie handle three times before the ball was knocked on.

A Hodgson penalty in the 20th minute gave the Lions a 3-0 lead but a period of Taranaki attack 10 minutes before halftime, with Lifeimi Mafi and Masoe prominent, led to the first try after Chris Cusiter threw an awful pass over Hodgson's head.

From the 5m scrum, Taranaki halfback Craig Fevre was tackled just short, the Lions turned it over but the quick thinking Masoe grabbed the ball and dived over under the crossbar. Sam Young's conversion made it 7-3.

Hodgson narrowed it to 6-7 at halftime after lock Scott Breman was penalised for a professional foul on Cusiter.

The match turned after the break on some crucial Taranaki errors and a flurry of penalties from referee Kelvin Deaker as the fire went out of the hosts, whose backs couldn't finish.

The Lions took the lead eight minutes after the break when wing Chris Woods ran across his own 22m and threw a poor pass, the Lions pounced and Cusiter sent Corry away on the right to score in Andrew Hore's diving tackle.

Television official Paddy O'Brien took several replays to award the try with doubt over whether Corry's leg hit the corner flag.

Six minutes later Hore was sinbinned by Deaker for lying on the ball, then Gordon Slater was penalised for another ruck infringement as Hodgson goaled in quick succession to make it 17-7 with 22 minutes left.

The win was sealed in the 66th minute when Greenwood was dragged down just short and Cusiter moved the ball right through Murphy, who put wing Horgan over in the corner.

Lions 36 (Geordan Murphy 2, Martin Corry, Shane Horgan tries; Charlie Hodgson 4 pen, con)

Taranaki 14 (Chris Masoe, Brendon Watt tries; Sam Young 2 con).

Halftime: 6-7.

* For full analysis of tonight's game log on to nzherald.co.nz from 5am Thursday NZT (6pm Wednesday BST/IST)