Keane battle ahead with Tasman

Tasman Mako’s impregnable defence looms as a massive challenge for North Harbour’s veteran coach Kieran Keane as he gets set to take his new team home to his former province.

Harbour got up on Saturday night for a late 38-36 win over Waikato after Matt McGahan’s 80th-minute converted try, but Keane will know they will not get the same headway against the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership pacesetters in Nelson next Sunday.

Mako head coach Andrew Goodman admitted after Tasman thrashed Counties Manukau 36-0 in Pukekohe on Friday that the clean sheet gave him more satisfaction than Tasman’s five tries.

‘‘The zero on the scoreboard was the most pleasing aspect,’’ Goodman said. ‘‘It’s always a great sight.’’

Crusaders star Will Jordan grabbed a double for Tasman and halfback Finlay Christie, front rower Sam Moli and wing Leicester Fainga’anuku also touched down.

The Mako – chasing their first Mitre 10 Cup title – have 24 out of a maximum 25 points to lead the Premiership standings after collecting a fourth bonus point in Pukekohe.

Keane, who coached the Mako to a couple of national premiership finals, has got his Harbour attack humming, but they left their rally rather late against Waikato.

Left wing Mark Telea bagged a brace, big No 8 Murphy Taramai scored and substitutes Luteru Tolai and James Little dotted down before McGahan’s match winner on the fulltime hooter.

Waikato had a 17-point lead and looked to have victory in sights after a brilliant individual try from the in-form Fletcher Smith on the hour mark.

But Harbour’s fresh legs provided

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■ the edge. Toloai and Little scored off the bench and McGahan dived over in the left wing corner to tie the score, then slotted a conversion to bag four points.

Wellington moved up to second place in the Premiership Otago players celebrate the successful retention of the Ranfurly Shield. after an ugly but effective 16-15 away win over Bay of Plenty at Rotorua on Saturday.

Goalkicker Jackson GardenBachop’s boot and a Peter UmagaJensen try got Wellington home, but the Lions had to rely on wholehearted defence to keep the home team at bay.

Hawke’s Bay remain the only unbeaten team in the Championship after scoring seven tries in a

41-23 win over winless Southland in Napier on Friday.

In yesterday’s early match, Canterbury beat Auckland 32-22 to move off the bottom of the Premiership ladder.

After starting the season 0-3, Canterbury thumped Southland

80-0 last weekend, but with all due respect to the southerners, it was yesterday’s match which was to be the test of their resurgence.

They showed they have shrugged off those early-season struggles with a 32-22 win at Eden Park in Auckland.

In the later match, Otago defended the Ranfurly Shied with a 35-27 win over Taranaki in Dunedin as Vilimoni Koroi scored 20 points for the home side.