Tasman Makos: News

Makos dig deep
08-Sep-2009

Wayne martin - Nelson Mail
One thing was evident at Trafalgar Park on Saturday.

The Tasman Makos clearly hadn't bought into any of the hype surrounding Manawatu's dramatic rise in fortunes this season, so by the time the Turbos returned home to Palmerston North, they'd been reminded of the natural order of things after a decisive 34-15 Tasman Air NZ Cup rugby victory.

Tasman's victory margin might have been the smallest of the four encounters between the two sides, but there was enough purpose and intensity in Tasman's efforts to suggest Manawatu were never going to deny Tasman their third win of the season.

There was a late hint of a Manawatu rally when a try to substitute midfielder Frankie Bryant saw them unnervingly reduce the margin to 22-15 with about 10 minutes remaining. But Tasman responded in kind as further tries to left winger Blair Cook and finally to halfback Kahn Fotuali'i right on fulltime helped secure the home team a crucial bonus-point win.

Victory was set up by a 17-point burst during a seven-minute period in the first half.

A penalty by first five-eighth Andrew Goodman was followed by converted tries to flanker Glen Gregory and centre Afeleki Pelenise, both set up by classy buildup work from No8 Mark Bright.

Manawatu lock Reece Robinson burrowed over against the run of play before the break to leave his team 17-5 down. His opposite number, Alex Ainley, then loped over 12 minutes into the second spell before Manawatu fought back to spark the dramatic final 10-minute climax.

Ultimately, Tasman's win was based around an effective set-phase platform in which their new-look front row of props Sakaria Taulafo and Tristan Moran and dynamic hooker Quentin MacDonald ensured a solid scrum base.

Bright's constructive ball carrying complemented the superb all-round efforts of Gregory and the shaven-headed Jonathan Poff, with lock Joe Wheeler also strong on the carry. Bright, Wheeler, Ainley and Gregory also ensured crucial lineout dominance.

Manawatu produced easily their worst performance of the season as missed tackles and constant handling errors meant they were never able to generate any consistent attacking momentum.

Tasman applied constant pressure, resulting in four charged-down kicks, as another significant ingredient in the win an area coach Bevan Cadwallader said had been drummed into the players prematch.

"We talked about trying to build pressure because Manawatu have been dangerous over the last two weeks. We said, look we've just got to focus on what we've got to do and we've got a pretty competitive forward pack and we were pretty tenacious in close.

Ad Feedback "I'm really proud of them actually because when Manawatu got that last try I thought, `oh here we go, here comes Hawke's Bay and Canterbury all over again'. But they dug deep and actually responded pretty well."

Gregory echoed Cadwallader's sentiments about their foot-on-the-throat approach.

"We wanted to put pressure on them. We spoke about this game as a must win for us and it could have been the turning point of our season and I think it will be. We got five points and another home game next week in Blenheim so we want to get a heap of support over there and take that one as well."

But despite his own fine efforts, Gregory wasn't taking his continued selection for granted.

"There's a lot of competition in the squad and it's week by week for me really."

Captain Goodman praised the efforts of his new front row, necessitated by the loss of All Black Ben Franks earlier in the week through injury.

"Those boys really stepped up. It was a massive loss to lose Franksy this week but Sak [Taulafo] and Twisty [Moran] really stood up today, and Quentin as well, so it was awesome.

"We were stoked to get the five points out of that game and one that we really targeted after those last two losses. We really needed to come through and the boys stepped up to get that bonus point."

Tasman 34 (Glen Gregory, Afeleki Pelenise, Alex Ainley, Blair Cook, Kahn Fotuali'i tries, Andrew Goodman pen, 3 cons) Manawatu 15 (Reece Robinson, Francis Bryant tries, Aaron Cruden pen, con) HT 17-5.