Taranaki magic casts spell over Stags

Taranaki have leapfrogged Southland into fourth place of the Mitre 10 Cup Championship after scrapping out a hard-fought victory in Invercargill.

With little separating the sides for 60 minutes, a moment of magic from Taranaki young gun Jacob Raumaitayuki-Kneepkens broke the game open and they held on to win 17-9.

The result lifted Taranaki to 14 points, three ahead of Southland with four games remaining before the semifinals.

Southland are away to Tasman next Saturday while Taranaki travel to Waikato the following day. Only one-point separated the teams in the standings heading into the game and it was the same on the scoreboard after a

tight first half, albeit in Taranaki’s favour.

While the intent was there for Southland, the accuracy left a lot to be desired at times. The Stags dominated territory only to repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot with handling errors or indiscretions at the breakdown.

They also lost Tongan international Penikolo Latu to a knee injury in the 22nd-minute, although Tevita Latu proved to be a handy replacement.

Yet two penalty goals from Scott Eade meant they only trailed 7-6 at the break – and a third shortly after the restart gave the hosts their first lead of the night.

It didn’t last long as a penalty for offside in front of the uprights allowed Taranaki to hit right back before the special play from Raumaitayuki-Kneepkens.

Put in space by Stephen Perofeta, the 19-year-old wing chipped over a defender, regathered and beat another to score.

Chris Gawler did his side no favours when he was sin binned for a blatant shoulder charge. However, Southland were unable to capitalise on the man advantage as the Bulls snapped a three-match losing streak.