Canterbury hit back
THE Canterbury dynasty is still very much alive.
It was far from easy, but they edged North Harbour 35-24 in Christchurch yesterday to secure their place in next weekend’s Mitre 10 Cup premiership final.
Canterbury’s four tries to three semifinal win ensured they remain on track to snare their third consecutive national provincial title and their ninth in 10 years.
They would have been cheering for Tasman to beat Taranaki in their semifinal, so that the final could be played in Christchurch.
Canterbury will be sweating on the health of midfield back Rob Thompson (concussion) and lock Mitch Dunshea (knee) for the decider, a match they’ll have to play much better in.
It was a mistake-ridden performance from the hosts, who trailed 10-0 early and had to dig mighty deep to cling on after North Harbour No 8 Murphy Taramai’s try pulled the visitors to within a point with 13 minutes to play.
However, playing without star first-five eighth Richie Mo’unga, who is in Brisbane with the All Blacks, they sealed the win through vice-captain Tim Bateman.
Bateman, who hadn’t long come back from from a concussion test, ran a typically impeccable line to dive over for a try on the same day his new contract with the Crusaders was announced.
Rookie first-five eighth Brett Cameron, who kicked 14 points off the tee in the match, nailed a penalty with a minute to go to further ice the result.
North Harbour put up a hell of a fight, but ultimately Tom Coventry’s troops, who only gained promotion to the premiership by winning the championship last year, came up short.
Trailing 17-10 at the halftime break, they promptly tied the game up after Chris Eves powered over within three minutes of referee Ben O’Keeffe whistling the game back into action.
However, the good work was quickly undone as Canterbury hit back through flanker Billy Harmon a minute later, after a well-executed Cameron restart sent them on their way.
It was the Ben Volavola show early, with the former Canterbury pivot giving the visitors a 10-0 lead inside the first quarter.
Volavola kicked a sixth-minute penalty to open the scoring, before dancing through some average Canterbury tackling and dotting down under the sticks.
It came on the back of numer- ous mistakes from the home side, who seemingly sleepwalked out of the changing sheds and coughed the ball up nine times in the first 15 minutes.
Canterbury coach Glenn Delaney is a composed character, but the kind of mistakes his team were making would have had someone like Wallabies coach Michael Cheika putting his fist through the coaching box wall.
Twice the red-and-blacks got up and snaffled lineout ball against the throw, only for a handling error to immediately waste GETTY IMAGES the good work and frustrate home fans. But halfback Mitchell Drummond, who scored two tries in Canterbury’s 41-28 win against North Harbour at Albany last month, fired the hosts into gear when he darted over in the 20th minute.
Cameron blasted over a penalty to knot the game up shortly afterwards, before fullback George Bridge’s converted try two minutes later, the result of a smart chip-kick by wing Braydon Ennor, gave the home side a 17-10 lead at the split.