Pre-season losses highlight gaps for Turbos
Two pre-season losses didn’t paint the best picture for Manawatū in their first hit out of the year, but coach Peter Russell was happy to get his teeth into on-field action.
Manawatū lost 19-7 to Auckland and 28-14 to Waikato in a pre-season game of three halves at Taupō’s Owen Delany Park yesterday. They played a different XV in each half.
It was their first outing of the year and, although they lost both games, it gave Russell a starting point going into their next preseason match against Wellington in Levin next Friday.
Manawatū wore Linton Army jerseys as a gesture towards the club, which wasn’t able to field men’s or women’s senior sides this year because many soldiers are working at managed isolation facilities, and because Manawatū have been training at Linton.
Manawatū ’s defence was solid mainly, although they were caught out on the fringes, where Waikato and Auckland made breaks.
The scrum held its on, but came under pressure late in the game against Waikato, conceding a couple of scrum penalties, when they changed some of the forwards. They also missed a couple of lineouts.
Russell said they knew the level now and they didn’t apply enough pressure.
Their one-on-one tackling let them down, something individuals would have to work on.
‘‘I can’t fault the effort. The effort was good. Just looking back at the Waikato game, we just switched off a bit at times, letting them take control of the game.’’
But he said the team needed to step up.
A handful of new rules have been introduced to the provincial competition this year, including the 50-22 kicking law, where if a team kicks from inside their own half and the ball goes out inside the opposition’s 22, the kicking team will be awarded the lineout.
Manawatū had a good crack at this, with fullback Drew Wild and first five-eighths Stewart Cruden and Brett Cameron plugging the corners.
Wild was handy running the ball and, aside from one going out on the full, his kicking found space.
Cameron looked confident running the backline in his first game for Manawatū – his first game back from a neck injury.
Manawatū had little ball in the first half against Auckland and didn’t get much of a chance to build pressure.
Their defence held well, except for once when a huge hole opened up around the ruck and led to Auckland scoring. Auckland’s other two tries came from broken play.
Second five-eighth James Tofa ran hard and straight with the precious little ball he had and lock Micaiah Torrance-Read was tireless.
Against Waikato, Manawatū ’s forwards were direct and men such as loose forward Shamus HurleyLangton, lock Liam Mitchell and hooker Bryn Gordon went up main street. Mitchell was a presence around the field.
They led 14-7 after Taniela Filimone scored a 30-metre intercept, before Waikato came back with three more tries. Two of Waikato’s tries came from hard-to-stop rolling mauls.
New Zealand under-20s players TK Howden and Joseph Gavigan; Samoan internationals Ray Fidow, Tietie Tuimauga and Ray Niuia; and Tongan international Siua Maile will all be back on deck on Monday and available to play against Wellington.
Auckland beat Waikato 28-5 in the other game.