Cavalry called
Line-up bolstered
Canterbury needed the heavy artillery to dodge a bullet and more reinforcements are poised to join an unbeaten, yet not entirely convincing, national provincial championship campaign when they host title-holders Taranaki in Christchurch on Sunday.
Scott Robertson had to rely on a quality bench, and some favourable refereeing decisions, to eke out a tense 18-17 victory over Waikato at AMI Stadium on Wednesday night, a win that enabled the title favourites to replace Tasman atop the premiership standings and guaranteed a semifinal berth.
Canterbury are warm $1.70 favourites at the TAB to secure their seventh title in eight years, though Taranaki, Tasman and Auckland might not be overly concerned by the quality of their recent performances.
Since an impressive start against Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury have struggled, although a subsequent three-game schedule in seven days was always going to stretch Robertson’s squad.
A Waikato side regrouping from a 41-point hammering in New Plymouth was always a candidate to meet a B-team. The tactic looked likely to backfire until Robertson called on his forward reserves after Canterbury trailed at the break. Ben Funnell, Joe Moody and Matt Todd boosted the pack though the outcome still hinged on Ben Tameifuna’s yellow card with 17 minutes to play.
‘‘Ideally we could have given them less minutes but what they did was perfect and we managed to squeak one out,’’ said Robertson, who can recall Luke Whitelock, Dominic Bird, Nepo Laulala and Richie Mo’unga. Wing Patrick Osborne could also return after missing three games with a calf injury when the team is named on Friday.
The coach and stand-in captain Tom Taylor defended a starting line-up that included 12 changes from the previous win at North Harbour though the back-up options struggled to match Waikato’s intensity.
‘‘We’ve got the shortest turnaround out of anyone, having a Sunday and a Wednesday game,’’ said Robertson. ‘‘We backed the guys to start and our bench men to do the job in the end.’’
Taylor bristled at suggestions there was a gulf in class between the first-choice team and the largely second-string side that ensured Canterbury was behind at halftime for the first time in 2015.
‘‘I’ve got full faith in our entire squad. It was just an attitude thing and technically we weren’t making our tackles.’’