Porous defence stalling Turbos
ANALYSIS: The Turbos’ weak defence against Otago has the warning bells starting to ding for Manawatu’s Championship hopes this season.
In typical Manawatu fashion, they followed a big home win over a highly-rated opponent (Tasman) with a stinker on the road, this one in the form of a 40-30 loss to Otago in Dunedin.
It happened twice last season with wins against Canterbury and Wellington at the Boneyard followed by let-downs against Taranaki and Bay of Plenty respectively.
Crucially, their latest stumble gifted five competition points to a key Championship contender, who were yet to pick up a win in the competition, and left Manawatu sitting in an all-too-familiar fifth place.
The Turbos dished Otago the match up on the platter in the second half.
Their woeful tackling highlighted that defence is now a serious concern.
Otago were able to get constant front-foot ball each time they attacked.
The southerners picked up almost 200m more with the ball in hand despites having a similar number of carries to Manawatu (Otago 101, Manawatu 104).
They made 16 clean breaks as Manawatu missed 24 tackles.
That left the Turbos with a tackle success rate of just 79 percent - their season average now just 78 percent and the worst in the competition.
You simply cannot win games when you miss that many tackles, no matter how good your attack is.
But against Otago, Manawatu’s attack was just as sloppy as their defence.
Otago’s rush defence smothered Manawatu’s backs with Otago midfielder Sio Tomkinson taking on the role of chief destroyer.
It meant the powerful Manawatu backline was irrelevant.
Ngani Laumape was the only back to stand out and even he was starved of the ball for long periods and was guilty of some loose offloads.
Nehe Milner-skudder registered just five carries for the entire game, Kurt Baker only had three.
Coach Jeremy Cotter rightly credited Otago for the way they shut the Turbos down.
But that is also an acknowledgement that Otago had out-smarted Manawatu both in the coaches box and on the field.
As the Turbos chased the game in the final 10 minutes, the ball was slow to come out of the ruck and when it was released, players were shovelling it off to flat-footed team-mates with Otago defenders bearing down on them.
At the end of the day, the 10-point loss would have been much more significant had Otago first five-eighth Josh Ioane landed more than just one of five shots at goal.
While Otere Black did not turn on his best performance on the field, he at least looked to have rediscovered his goalkicking mojo as he landed five from five.
The Turbos would be in serious trouble if Jackson Hemopo was not in the side.
The lock has been outstanding and for the third consecutive week, can claim to have been the best Turbo on the park.
There were few others to stand out on Saturday, but Michael Alaalatoa, Kayne Hammington and Laumape all had their moments.
It was a match when many of Manawatu’s more consistent performers struggled.
Even captain Heiden Bedwellcurtis was off his game.
Cotter turned to his bench earlier last week in the search of some extra spark, but few offered any noteworthy impact - hooker Tim Cadwallader utility back Lewis Marshall were the best off the pine.
Luckily the Turbos return to their sanctuary in Palmerston North this Friday to take on Bay of Plenty.
There is plenty on the line in the match with the Steamers sharing an identical one win from three matches record as the Turbos and holding serious semifinal ambitions.
Manawatu will have to make a few more tackles on Friday night if they want the win.