Drummond key man in drubbing

A week on from their shock home loss to Manawatu¯ , Canterbury have got their Mitre 10 Cup campaign back on track after a 38-5 win over Counties Manukau in Christchurch last night.

An inspirational two-try display from captain Mitchell Drummond led the red and blacks to a victory that solidifies their spot in third place in the Premiership standings with two rounds to play before the semifinals.

Drummond played just 50 minutes before being subbed, but by that stage his side was up 26-0 and his two first-half tries were crucial in getting the hosts’ humming, after a stuttering start against a Steelers side who are bottom of the Premiership.

Canterbury scored six tries to one in their bonus-point victory, with replacement winger Sam Gilbert also bagging a double.

Canterbury opened their account in the 11th minute in rather bizarre fashion. Off a fivemetre defensive scrum, Counties No 8 Dan Hyatt sent a poor pass to halfback Jonathan Taumateine, who was swooped on by his opposite, Drummond, then had the ball ripped off him by his own team-mate – flanker Malgene Ilaua – who was then stripped of possession himself by Canterbury hooker Brodie McAlister, who simply forced the ball to ground.

But while the hosts began to camp in Steelers territory, they just weren’t able to get their act together in showing that dominance on the scoreboard. Stray passes, errant running lines and dropped balls – none worse than winger Dallas McLeod’s 18th minute howler when all he had to do was catch the pill and run five metres to score – were their undoing, along with some desperate Counties defence.

In the end it took some Drummond ingenuity in the 28th minute to notch the home side’s second try, with a close-range scrum laying the foundation for a classy dummy and reach-out plant down from the experienced halfback.

It looked as though Counties had wasted no time in finding a hit-back, as fullback Andrew Kellaway found space in behind with a low kick and winger Kailone Hala chased through, regathered and dived over, only to be denied by the TMO as he Kuridrani try). was ruled to have propelled the ball forward on the ground.

Rubbing salt into Hala’s wound was that five minutes later he was hobbling off with a leg injury, which made it one apiece in the casualty ward, following the earlier withdrawal of Canterbury lock Luke Romano, also with a leg issue.

Then, with the minutes ticking till halftime and Canterbury with the opportunity of kicking three points to extend the margin past two converted tries, Drummond’s decision to kick for the line paid dividends, with the skipper the eventual beneficiary, as he pounced on a ball which popped out the back of a maul and collected his double, making it 19-0 at the break.

Come the 50th minute the home side had really hit its straps, when McLeod this time caught the ball and finished for the bonus-point try, after opposite winger Ngane Punivai started the movement with a fine run.

Counties’ night got tougher with the 55th minute yellow card to replacement winger Nathaniel Apa for a deliberate knock down, and from there Canterbury struck again, with their own replacement winger, Gilbert, running in after some slick backline work.

There was a double for Gilbert 10 minutes later, again on the end of a well-worked backline move, before Counties managed a consolation just before fulltime, through winger Chris Kuridrani.

But after their big stall last week, the Canterbury machine looks to have very much kicked back into gear.

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