Bulls miss final despite impressive win
A Matt Sauni hat-trick highlighted the Canterbury Bulls’ brilliant 38-26 win over the Akarana Falcons but it still wasn’t enough to clinch a national rugby league grand final berth.
The Bulls’ 12-point victory at AMI Stadium on Sunday created a three-way tie at the top of the National Provincial Premiership table with Canterbury, Akarana and the Counties Manukau Stingrays each having two wins.
Calculators came into play with the two finalists determined by points differential – and the Bulls dipped out to their two northern rivals.
Counties enjoyed a +78 points difference, ahead of Akarana (+28) and Canterbury (+16), meaning the Bulls would have needed to beat the Falcons by 25 or more points to contest the final.
Bulls coach Andrew Auimatagi was disappointed not to advance to the Albert Baskerville Trophy showdown next Saturday, but he was ‘‘really proud of the team’’ for dispatching their vaunted Auckland opponents.
‘‘It’s just unfortunate that it’s not the scoreline we were after.’’
It was always going to be tough for the Bulls to qualify on points differential after Counties Manukau thrashed the Wellington Orcas 80-12.
But they turned on a clinic, scoring seven tries, including four in the final quarter.
Matt Sauni won the man of the match award, but returning Bulls front rower Chris Bamford and captain James Baxendale were equalling deserving of decoration.
The Akarana defence could not handle Bamford’s bullocking runs with the Linwood Keas skittling opponents to reinforce his claim to be the best prop on the New Zealand domestic scene.
Ball-playing Baxendale belied the calf strain that kept him out of the first two rounds with an exemplary display up the middle.
Bamford also sat out the first two matches after an internal disciplinary matter, leaving Canterbury supporters to ponder whether the Bulls would have beaten Counties Manukau and advanced to the final with three wins if Bamford and Baxendale had been available from the get-go.
‘‘I think it’s hard to say that,’’ Auimatagi said. ‘‘They are outstanding players in their own right, they showed what they can do today.
‘‘I felt we had the team to beat Counties in the first game, but if we had Baxy and Chris, they definitely would have added something. They proved their value today.’’
But Auimatagi felt all the Bulls players ‘‘made some really good contributions’’.
‘‘Our edge players, Phill [Nati], Matt, [Michael] Butson and Erwin [Sauni] all had their moments and Tevin [Arona] had a strong game [at scrumhalf].’’
The Bulls dominated the second quarter after conceding an early first half try to Akarana second rower Taylor Daniels.
Nati opened up the Akarana defence with a surging run down the left edge before offloading for Nathan Samaulu to score Canterbury’s first try.
An Arona dart led, a couple of tackles later, to Nati’s third try in two games and hooker Alani Kakoi produced the deftest of grubber kicks for Sauni to make it 16-4 at halftime. The Bulls surrendered their lead by buttoning off in the third quarter with former Warriors and Kiwis hooker Tevita Latu adding more urgency to Akarana’s play-the-balls.
‘‘We let them dictate the speed of the ruck and our defence got a bit loose,’’ Auimatagi said. Tries to fullback Siua Otunuku, wing Cortez Taulu, a soft score to Latu after some poor defence around the ruck, and a brilliant individual effort from diminutive scrumhalf Zae Wallace saw the Aucklanders turn a 12-point halftime deficit into a 26-16 lead.
The tide turned back towards the Bulls once Bamford returned from the bench. The 33-year-old frontrower crashed over for a deserved try to narrow the gap to four points.
Sauni crossed twice more to complete his hat-trick and the Bulls’ final try, in the right-hand corner to wing Vinnie Paul, was one of their most spectacular with the ball zipping between many pairs of hands.