Makos chomp on Bulls
Our mighty Makos were unrelenting in overcoming an outstanding Taranaki opponent, 41 -29 at Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth in Sunday afternoon’s Mitre 10 Cup Premiership semi-final.
The Tasman team now have a short week to prepare for the Premiership Final against competition front runners, Canterbury, in Christchurch on Saturday night.
Links:
Tasman headed for the Final
Makos deserve their Final fling
An interesting point about the Premiership Cup on offer. Mitre 10 and NZ Rugby agree that tradition plays a big role in the NPC so decided to bring back the original NPC Rugby Cup which was last contested for in 2005 (it subsequently became the ITM Cup). The Tasman team never contested the Rugby Cup, coming into the competition in 2006.
Tasman v Taranaki – Semi-Final Review
Win or lose, this was a really good game of rugby. The pace at which both teams played, and the skills shown, is clear evidence as to why the Mitre 10 Cup is vital to the development of the players who will go on to be All Blacks.
The Bulls got out of the gate early and posted a good first try. Their lineout and rolling maul looked ominous. An early injury to Pete Samu didn’t calm the nerves but the team stood up, especially up front, and some enterprising rugby from the mighty Makos had them out front at oranges, 24 – 12.
Another two tries shortly after the re-start had the Makos comfortably ahead at the 50 minute mark. Then Taranaki decided to step up a gear to get within 5 points with 12 minutes on the clock.
An Ethan Blackadder lineout steal, and then 29 phases of great forwards work set up a final try on the bell to close out the game 41 – 29.
Tasman head coach Leon MacDonald said that the Taranaki clash had been physically and emotionally draining for his players and that they'd have to prepare sensibly over the coming week. "It was a big day and they had a big week and I thought the boys can be hugely proud of the way they played here against a really good Taranaki team.
Tasman 41 (Ross Geldenhuys, Alex Nankivell, Mitchell Hunt, Billy Guyton, Marty Banks tries, Marty Banks 5 con, 2 pen) v Taranaki 29 (Seta Tamanivalu, Johnny Faauli, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Declan O'Donnell, Mitchell Crosswell tries, Marty McKenzie 2 con) HT: 24-12
Fins Up!
