Canterbury Colts defeat Tasman B 34-15
Tasman B's South Island division B rugby title plans have been side-swiped by a bunch of upstart Canterbury Colts.
After the positive vibes of the previous week's win over Canterbury Metro at Trafalgar Park, Tasman B have had their momentum stalled by a 34-15 loss to the Canterbury Colts at Sports Park Motueka on Saturday.
Tasman had hoped to be heading into next Saturday's match against Canterbury Country at Culverden with two straight wins under their belts, where a win over Country would have been enough to promote them into the South Island final against the Highlanders region winners.
Instead, Tasman fumbled their way to a 19-point defeat in Motueka and while their title hopes are by no means extinguished, they now have a fight on their hands as the other three teams come squarely back into the equation.
Tasman coach Marty O'Cain's concerns about the Colts being more cohesive and better drilled than the Metro side appeared well founded. Add the Colts' energy and their superior counter-rucking prowess at the breakdowns to the mix, and Tasman were faced with a challenge they ultimately couldn't meet.
Tasman compounded their problems by giving the Colts a 15-point headstart following early tries to prop Simon Berghan, after flanker Tom Stanley had broken the defence out wide, and to flanker Luke Whitelock which had the Colts well ahead after just 16 minutes.
Fullback Jamie Verran's almost faultless goalkicking display, missing just one of his eight attempts at goal, also proved critical to the outcome. Verran contributed 19 points from five penalties and two conversions.
Although Tasman staged a minor recovery through a try to No8 Jake Cooley from an attacking lineout nine minutes before the break, the Colts still headed to the interval with an 18-7 advantage.
When substitute halfback Kaide Whiting pounced on a Willie McGoon chip kick to help narrow the deficit to 18-12 three minutes after the restart, it appeared that Tasman were ready to launch their fightback. That's as close as they got, however, as Verran's menacing boot and a late try to substitute winger Josh Taylor, with his first touch of the ball, eventually saw the Colts push the margin beyond Tasman's control.
Compared to the previous week, Tasman's execution was riddled with errors as the Colts' aggressive defence continued to build pressure. And where Tasman defenders had been smashing into Metro bodies a week earlier, this time the home team's defence appeared more tentative and without the same sting.
But it was the Colts' impressive counter-rucking that appeared to demonstrate each team's respective mindsets as Tasman were frequently blown off the ball in promising attacking situations.
It compounded O'Cain's frustration.
"Our error rate was just too high and they counter-rucked us really well," he said. "We weren't ready for that. We hadn't really thought that's how they'd play the game. We thought they'd just D up and let us run and shut us down.
"They counter-rucked really well and that put us under a lot of pressure and that pressure turned into mistakes by us.The difference between the two teams wasn't that great. Our error rate was higher than theirs and they capitalised."
Tasman lock and skipper Jarrod Aberhart and flanker Tevita Koloamatangi did their best to try to inspire some first-half momentum with ball in hand although poor execution and fumbled ball constantly eased any pressure on the Colts' defence. Besides scoring his team's first try, Cooley was again among Tasman's most consistent performers, including some decisive defence.
The Colts were well served by the loose trio of Stanley, No8 Jordan Taufua and Whitelock, this year's successful New Zealand under-20 captain.
Canterbury Colts 34 (Simon Berghan, Luke Whitelock, Josh Taylor tries, Jamie Verran 5 pens, 2 cons) Tasman B 15 (Jake Cooley, Kaide Whiting tries, Andrew Letham pen, con) HT 18-7.
- The Nelson Mail
