No sign of panic by Manawatu

"It is not the end of the world. There is something to work with and now we know where we are at." Manawatu coach Jeremy Cotter

Manawatu Turbos coach Jeremy Cotter is not about to hit the panic switch after a frustrating first-up performance in the national provincial championship.

The 41-29 loss to Wellington on Sunday will make for some unpleasant viewing for a handful of players, especially with some of their tackle attempts.

But while taking lessons from their mistakes, the Turbos will also be looking at what went right.

‘‘It is not the end of the world,’’ Cotter said.

‘‘There is something to work with and now we know where we are at.’’

‘‘We scored five tries and created more opportunities. If we can get our discipline right and be a little more patient and a little more accurate at the breakdown, it will help.

‘‘We did not quite have the tempo in the game we would have liked. We slowed up at ruck time and we can’t afford to do that. You have got to keep the tempo in there and put the opposition under stress.

‘‘A fraction of a second longer and the defence is set and they are ready to knock you over again and you have to restart.

‘‘I think our discipline was poor. Our decision making, at times we panicked. We were a bit frivolous with [the ball] ... we were trying to push offloads when we didn’t need to.’’

The Turbos conceded a try inside the first two minutes of the match.

But to their credit, they responded shortly after to lead 22-12.

Cotter highlighted the last 10 minutes of the first half when the side leaked two tries as a key moment.

‘‘It was a critical stage of the game. If we could have scored next, we could have put a comfortable buffer on them. But we were not really able to keep the foot on the throat.’’

Letting in a try to Malo Tuitama two minutes from fulltime was also costly for Manawatu.

‘‘The disappointing thing for me is that we were still sitting on a bonus point at the end and we let that slip, just poor decisionmaking there,’’ Cotter said.

‘‘We could have held onto that if we were a little more ruthless. As we know from years gone by, bonus points really really count so we have to look after them.’’

There did not appear to be any major injuries for the Turbos, but both Heiden Bedwell-curtis and Lewis Marshall left the field with cramp.

Manawatu’s best performer was lock Jackson Hemopo, while props Sean Paranihi and Fraser Armstrong, No 8 Heiden Bedwellcurtis, wing Ambrose Curtis and fullback Nehe Milner-skudder also impressed.

Three men made their Manawatu debuts on Sunday.

Paranihi started his Turbos career as part of a dominating front row.

The 20-year-old former Tu Toa student transferred to Manawatu earlier this year from Canterbury. He played five games on loan with Counties Manukau last season.

He was replaced by 19-year-old Sione Asi, known as Panda.

Asi held his own in the scrums and made a couple of strong carries.

Willy Ambaka celebrated his Manawatu debut with a try.

The 27-year-old Kenyan sevens star looked dangerous on attack, but never really got the space he needed to break out.