Taylor to hoist 100 in final
Former All Black Tom Taylor couldn’t have dreamed up a better way to bring the curtain down on his Canterbury career than a final against Auckland in his 100th game in a red and black jersey.
The 26-year-old fullback scored 26 points as Canterbury racked up a clinical 46-20 win over Taranaki in the national provincial premiership semi final last Saturday night to book a home final against their arch nemesis this Saturday at AMI Stadium.
Taranaki coach Colin Cooper acknowledged Taylor’s pinpoint goal kicking, two chargedown tries to Rob Thompson and ex-All Black lock Dominic Bird’s lineout mastery proved telling differences in an entertaining outing that produced seven tries but only came alive after 30 minutes.
It means Taylor, who has won three championships with Canterbury, gets to make his final bow before leaving for French club Toulon on his home ground in his 100th appearance in a Canterbury or Crusaders jersey.
‘‘It’s definitely something I thought about at the start of the season. I knew I had to play every game in the ITM Cup to make it,’’ said Taylor, who was reminded of the potential milestone a few games ago by ‘‘our gear man, Foxy [John Miles].’’
Taylor will ‘‘get a plaque on the wall’’ for 100 games in red and black, which he said would be ‘‘a cool thing to look back on’’.
‘‘But, at the end of the day it will mean nothing if we don’t finish it off and win the final. That’s at the forefront of my my mind.’’
Taylor said Auckland, who smoked Tasman 44-24 last Friday, had a lot of potential gamebreakers and had been ‘‘one of the standout teams of the competition’’.
‘‘The boys are really excited already. We had a tough final against them in 2012.’’
Taylor’s boot kept Canterbury in front, 9-3, until the half-hour mark, but Taranaki struck back with a try in the right-hand corner to Jackson Ormond.
Thompson’s charge-down tries, either side of halftime, proved the nail in titleholder Taranaki’s coffin.
Marshall Suckling continued his good run on the left wing for the absent Patrick Osborne with another try and a telling tackle on rampaging Taranaki lock Blade Thomson, that led to a turnover and a subsequent Canterbury score.
Taranaki fullback Kurt Baker showed plenty of gas to score after stepping Ryan Crotty, but he bungled a later clearing kick for Thompson’s second charge-down try. The only real blemish for Canterbury was a penalty try award after wing Johnny McNicholl was alleged to have deliberately knocked the ball on to defuse a Taranaki attack near his line.
Coach Scott Robertson said the victory was ‘‘very clinical’’. He said Taylor’s six penalty goals proved pivotal because it was ‘‘still tight at the 25 to 30 minute mark’’, but the coach always backed Canterbury’s composure and control and said the lineout was a key factor.
‘‘Big Dom was soaring. He’s an All Black, that’s probably his expectation and we’re really proud of him.’’
Bird, the Canterbury lineout caller and principal go-to-man won the man of the match award after pilfering Taranaki ball and using his 2.06m frame to telling effect around the field.
Skipper Luke Whitelock proved a vigorous ball carrier and afterwards confirmed that he plans to stay playing for Canterbury in the NPC despite a Super Rugby shift to the Highlanders. That was music to Robertson’s ears, who said Whitelock was developing well as a respected leader.
Meanwhile the South Canterbury team’s record-breaking run in the Heartland Championship continues. The Meads Cup final will be played in Timaru on Saturday afternoon after South Canterbury squeezed past a gallant Wairarapa Bush side 25-21 at on Saturday.
Down 18-7 at the break, things looked ominous but two well-taken tries and some superb last-gasp defence saw them through to the final against Wanganui. The visitors put defending champions Mid Canterbury away 26-11 in the other semi-final at Ashburton.