Makos score gritty home win over Taranaki Bulls
Taranaki winger Beaudein Waaka gets lowered in a tackle by Tasman halfback Finlay Christie during their NPC rugby clash at Nelson's Trafalgar Park.
A wounded Marty Banks has produced a faultless goalkicking display to help steer the Tasman Makos to a crucial 25-20 national provincial championship rugby win over Taranaki.
Despite nursing a damaged hamstring, Banks landed all seven of his goal kicks at Nelson's Trafalgar Park on Saturday, including six penalties, to contribute 20 of the team's points.
It definitely wasn't all roses for the popular Tasman No 10 though, with Taranaki winger Beaudein Waaka intercepting an attempted long pass by Banks just eight minutes into the second half to sprint 50m to the tryline for a 20-9 Taranaki lead.
Billy Guyton and Kylem O'Donnell scramble for the loose ball.
But Banks continued to deliver, landing a further three penalties plus the conversion to centre Kieron Fonotia's try midway through the half to eventually help see Tasman home.
"The hamstring might have helped with it being a bit sore," a relieved Banks said after a predictably tense contest.
Tasman Makos hooker Andrew Makalio puts in a kick after making a break during the team's NPC match against the Taranaki Bulls at Trafalgar Park in Nelson.
"I couldn't really kick [the ball] too hard, so I was pretty lucky, it was one of those days."
Banks admitted that memories of Taranaki's 2014 overtime win came back to haunt him when Taranaki's replacement hooker Sione Lea crossed in the corner with Tasman ahead 25-20 and only minutes remaining, only to be ruled offside.
"We didn't make it easy on ourselves. We had probably three opportunities to just seal the win...that last scrum we had a pretty clear plan just to pass it and kick it out, but we'll just take the win.
"It's good to get back on the horse after losing to Canterbury like we did last week. It was pretty disappointing and the boys hurt a lot, so it was good to get back into the winner's circle."
And that errant pass?
"I was pretty lucky that they gave me a couple of opportunities to get that seven points back."
The pre-match loss of experienced winger James Lowe to a season-ending injury caused some unwanted disruption to Tasman's backline. And Tasman were clearly under the pump when they trailed 13-6 at halftime against a physical Taranaki side
All the scoring during the first quarter was restricted to penalties, with Taranaki fullback Marty McKenzie and Banks each converting twice for a 6-6 scoreline after 24 minutes.
Tasman centre Kieron Fonotia reaches out to score a try.
Taranaki had benefitted from the All Blacks selectors' benevolence during the first half when big centre Seta Tamanivalu crashed over for the game's opening try after having earlier made the decisive break deep into Tasman territory.
Taranaki continued to apply the pressure as they took their handy 13-6 lead into the break.
Waaka's intercept try ultimately appeared to take the game beyond Tasman's reach. But Tasman got themselves right back into contention when big centre Kieron Fonotia lunged across from an attacking scrum to leave them just 20-19 adrift.
Banks' boot did the rest.
Tasman head coach Leon MacDonald said that the players certainly took their halftime instructions to heart.
"We struggled in the last 10 minutes [of the first half], we became a little bit passive, a little bit like we did against Canterebury on D[efence]," MacDonald said.
"We stopped coming forward and we stopped putting pressure on the at the breakdown. But we talked about it and I thought that after halftime we sorted that out really well.
"The second thing we talked about was having a go on attack and backing ourselves. We were being a little bit hesitant and I thought we looked a lot more dangerous with ball in hand as well."
AT A GLANCE
Tasman 25 (Kieron Fonotia try, Marty Banks 6 pen, con) Taranaki 20 (Seta Tamanivalu, Beaudein Waaka tries, Marty McKenzie 2 pen, 2 con) HT: 13-6
