Tasman's loss 'painful' [Marlborough Express]

Joe Wheeler and Quentin MacDonald have battled serious injuries over the past couple of years but both are back to full fitness and were two of the stars in a Tasman Makos team that came agonisingly close to pulling off one of the greatest Ranfurly Shield wins in history.

Wheeler, playing at blindside flanker, and MacDonald, at hooker, in a powerful Makos forward pack, revelled in the open nature of the match against Taranaki, with MacDonald highlighting his game with a superb second half try.

However, rugby at this level is all about winning and on Saturday night they came up just short - and it hurt.

"The old cliche - you've got to play for 80 minutes and we played for about 76," Wheeler said. "You couldn't fault the attitude, the character, the commitment of our guys. I mean Ranfurly Shield matches are decided by defence and ours wasn't good enough tonight . . . I'm just gutted."

MacDonald said that to score 40 points and not come away with victory was disappointing.

"Taranaki was a sharp team and we knew that. We had a plan coming into the second half. We just wanted to keep playing and back our defence but I think scoring that try [MacDonald's] let our guards down. It was the first time we had taken the lead and we just needed to be more clinical, but you can't fault the effort we put in.

"We knew we had to front. We knew we were in for a big night and I thought we stepped up."

After missing the best part of the last two Super rugby seasons with the Crusaders because of injury, Wheeler emerged relatively unscathed from Saturday's clash, as did MacDonald. Both are keen to get back on the horse and get the job done against Manawatu in Palmerston North on Sunday