Bridge too far for Canterbury
A week in Japan with the All Blacks takes the edge off a little, but standout Canterbury fullback George Bridge had to admit it hurt like hell to lose one of the best finals in national provincial championship history.
Not that Bridge and the Cantabs weren’t due, after winning nine of the last 10 titles, but at Eden Park on Saturday they were pipped 40-33 by Auckland after 100 minutes of high-quality rugby.
Canterbury looked to have yet another Premiership in the bag when they led 26-12 midway through the second half, before Alama Ieremia’s men came roaring back to score two converted tries in the last quarter to knot the scores at 26-26 and send the final into 20 minutes of extra time.
The Cantabs again took the lead when Tom Sanders crashed over early in the overtime period, only for the Auks to hit back with tries to replacements Mike Sosene-Feagai and Leon Fukofuka to steal a famous victory.
‘‘We’re pretty disappointed with the outcome,’’ said Bridge, who had a fabulous match at the back, including a nicely taken first-half try. ‘‘I thought we probably did everything we could have and put ourselves in a good position to win it.
‘‘Unfortunately the scoreboard didn’t show that. We’re gutted but I’m proud of the lads.’’
Bridge said the red-and-blacks certainly didn’t under-estimate a resurgent Auckland side that had finished top of the table and had won 10 of its previous 11 matches this season.
‘‘We had plenty of self-belief and confidence going in, but we knew we were going to be up against it playing at Eden Park and Auckland have had a bloody good season. It’s probably a testament to Auckland going the full 100 minutes and holding us out. We’ve had a good season, but it’s just a shame to finish this way.’’
It was unusual to see Canterbury cough up two such significant leads at the business end of a final, but Bridge said swings in momentum were all part of the game at this level.
‘‘We’d talked about changes in momentum, and I guess in finals that’s always happening. There were heaps of changes of momentum and we put ourselves in good positions where we could have held them out.’’
At a glance
Premiership final:
Auckland 40 (Tumua Manu, Akira Ioane, Jordan Trainor, Caleb Clarke, Mike Sosene-Feagai, Leon Fukofuka tries; Harry Plummer 5 cons), Canterbury 33 (George Bridge, Tom Sanders tries; penalty try; Brett Cameron 4 lpens, 2 cons), after extra time. HT: 7-20; FT: 26-26.
Waikato 36 (Sevu Reece 2, Quinn Tupaea, Matty Lansdown, Tyler Campbell tries; Fletcher Smith 4 con, pen) Otago 13 (James Lentjes try; Josh Ioane con, 2 pen). HT: 19-6.
Thames Valley 17 (Brett Ranga, Sergio de la Fuente tries; Reece Boughton pen, 2 con) South Canterbury 12 (Loni Toumohuni, Kalavini Leatigaga tries; Willie Wright con). HT: 3-12.
Horowhenua-Kapiti 26 (Aaron Lahmert, David McErlean tries; James So’oialo 4 pen, 3 con) Wairarapa Bush 23 (Soli Malatai, Sam Gammie tries; Tipene Haira 2 con, 3 pen). HT: 16-7.
Championship final:
Meads Cup final:
Lochore Cup final: