Convincing wins keep Southern sides on top in NPC
Former All Black fullback Israel Dagg is predicting ‘‘a good tussle’’ between Tasman and Canterbury for the national provincial championship premiership title.
The two South Island teams continue to hold sway at the top of the table after convincing wins in the fifth round.
Kieran Keane’s Tasman Makos smashed Wellington 36-17 on Friday and Canterbury made a storming start with two tries in the first six minutes to demolish Dagg’s Hawke’s Bay team, 29-14, in Christchurch on Saturday night.
Tasman lead by a single point after notching bonus points in their first five games for a maximum haul of 25 points. Canterbury are also unbeaten and have four bonus points in their 24-point tally.
Dagg said Canterbury were ‘‘looking pretty good’’ and predicted the red and blacks and Tasman, who meet in Nelson on October 3, would be a top contest.
Canterbury captain Luke Whitelock was delighted with his side’s start and some tries off set piece moves, but said some unforced errors, including untimely knock-ons, would be punished later in the season, if not eradicated.
The Makos blew Wellington away with 30 unanswered points in the second half and assistantcoach Leon MacDonald said they ‘‘built up like it was our test’’. ‘‘We haven’t really put in a performance that we’ve been proud of right across the park, but the boys put the challenge to themselves to do that against a very strong Wellington team.’’
Auckland remain in third place after holding off a fast-finishing Otago, 35-29, at Eden Park on Sunday. They are one point behind Canterbury, but have played six games to Tasman and Canterbury’s five.
All Blacks Charles Piutau and George Moala scored for Auckland and No 8 Akira Ioane continued his fine 2015 form with another try.
Powerful Otago backrower Naulia Dawai grabbed a hat-trick as the southerners fought back from a 27-14 halftime deficit to close the gap to three points in the latter stages.
Premiership champions Taranaki are now fourth with a threewin three-loss record. The Taranaki Bulls face a vital game against the Waikato Mooloos in New Plymouth on Friday, a clash being billed as the battle of the bovines.
Taranaki beat Bay of Plenty 32-9, securing a bonus point with four tries, including a couple of dangerous backs Kurt Baker and Seta Tamanivalu.
But veteran coach Colin Cooper wasn’t entirely happy and said discipline and accuracy would have to improve to beat Waikato."Our structure is still good and our set piece is good but we have to cut out the errors that are costing us. I think we can fix that and we know every team is going to come at us physically so we just have to bar up and we’ll need to do that against Waikato.’’
Blues bound Counties Manukau coach Tana Umaga faces a herculean task to keep the Steelers in the premiership after two results failed to go their way at the weekend.
Counties Manukau lost their cross-town clash with championship side North Harbour, 28-20, failing to pick up a bonus point.
Manawatu predictably beat championship cellar dwellers Northland, 42-17, at Palmerston North on Sunday for their first win of the season.
Jason O’Halloran’s side scored six tries, with Nathan Tudreu dotting down twice, to pick up their fifth bonus point of the campaign and inch ahead of Counties Manukau at the foot of the table.
Hawke’s Bay still lead the championship from Wellington by one point from Wellington. But Dagg said the Magpies would have to raise their game to retain the Ranfurly Shield against Bay of Plenty in Napier this Saturday after a collectively poor performance against Canterbury.