Great escape falls flat
A valiant second-half comeback from the Taranaki development side almost gave them a miraculous victory over their Waikato counterparts on Saturday.
Behind 22-9 at halftime after conceding four tries, Taranaki turned in a courageous secondhalf performance to actually take the lead 32-29 with three minutes remaining at Inglewood’s TET Stadium.
Unfortunately for the home side, they gave away a midfield penalty near halfway, Waikato kicked it to within 5m of the line and drove over from the lineout to take a 34-32 win in the northern regions competition match.
Things started poorly for Taranaki in the hours leading up to the game.
Influential centre Pomare Samupo and No 8 Hamish Alabaster had to withdraw because of a stomach bug, while international wing David Philander was ruled out after showing concussion symptoms.
That meant a serious reshuffle to the starting lineup, with several players forced to play out of position.
It showed in the opening 40 minutes as Taranaki were caught short defensively, especially out wide, where Waikato made some serious inroads.
Throw in a host of unforced errors from Taranaki and it looked like it was going to be a good old-fashioned thumping.
Thankfully for the home crowd Taranaki got some momentum early in the second half, maintained possession and figured out they could stretch their opponents.
That resulted in tries to Bryn Hudson, Lachlan Boshier and Liam McBride, while Rick McKenna was doing his bit with the boot, landing five penalties and a conversion.
‘‘I’m pleased with the second half, the guys showed some good character to come back, but the disappointing thing is every game we play it’s going to be physical at the start and we just didn’t turn up,’’ Steelfab Taranaki coach Kelvin McDowell said.
‘‘We were too flat and conceded too many points. We nearly got out of jail but we need to learn from this and start well.’’
McDowell refused to blame the pre-match disruption for the team’s sluggish start.
‘‘The guys who have started have had time in those places. We just have to learn what is required at this next level and what we need to do to step up and start better. I was pleased with what we come back with, unfortunately it was not enough.’’
There were several notable performances from Taranaki, the best of which came from New Zealand Under 20 openside flanker Boshier, while McKenna also played well after he was switched from the wing to fullback.
Canada lock Aaron Flagg got himself more into the game in the second half and had a number of strong runs, while his second row partner Jesse Parete was busy and did a lot of good things, tempered with a few mistakes.
As well as hoping the players ruled out will return for this week’s away match to Northland, McDowell will be hoping several of his squad members are also released from the Taranaki A side.
New Plymouth Boys’ High School’s Chad Petersen tries to go through the tackle of Coastal’s Matt Hooper during the Taranaki secondary school’s premier B final at Tikorangi on Saturday. Boys’ High won 34-24, one of five victories the school enjoyed on finals day. The other victories included the B1 final, won 38-30 over Hawera High School’s second XV, the B2 match 25-13 over Central second XV 25-13, the Under-15 A game 34-10 over Hawera High School Red and the Under-63kg final 51-5 over Hawera High School. The only final not to feature Boys’ High was the Under-15 B match, which was won by Coastal 36-5 over Central.