Makos suffer shock loss to Manawatu
Manawatu have delivered another crippling blow to the Tasman Makos' early season plans after securing an upset 35-20 Mitre 10 Cup rugby win in Palmerston North on Sunday.
Disappointed and frustrated by their big 39-0 opening round Mitre 10 Cup rugby loss to Canterbury, Tasman had hoped to travel north in a bid to realign their campaign against championship team Manawatu.
But they produced an error-ridden performance as the continued to make costly errors, with two players also sin-binned to highlight a disappointing day.
Tasman fullback Will Jordan is tackled by his opposite Kurt Baker.
Manawatu were also heavy first round losers, well beaten 41-29 by a resurgent Wellington side, but they produced a solid effort at Central Energy Trust Arena to stun last year's beaten premiership finalists and send shock-waves through the Tasman camp.
Tasman simply couldn't generate any attacking rhythm during a scratchy first half performance, despite looking to use the ball positively on attack.
Tasman midfielder Alex Nankivell of Tasman beats the tackle of Lewis Marshall.
Mitchell Hunt's fifth-minute penalty success was significant on one count as Tasman's first points in 85 minutes of rugby.
However, it was Manawatu that produced the first real scoring action when flanker Nick Crosswell powered over in the 21st minute after the Manawatu forwards had patiently worked through the phases from an attacking lineout for a 7-3 lead.
Both teams showed plenty of early enterprise but errors and turnovers proved costly, Tasman in particular guilty of throwing loose passes behind the opposition's defensive line as they struggled to create any pressure or momentum.
No 8 Jordan Taufua finds a gap for Tasman.
In contrast to Tasman's poor finishing, Manawatu continued to seize their opportunities with seasoned fullback Kurt Baker showing some fine individual skills to cleverly regather his own chip kick near halfway and beat the defence to the corner for a 12-3 lead 13 minutes from halftime.
A Black penalty right on halftime confirmed the home team's scoreboard dominance as they headed to the break with a handy 15-3 lead.
Penetrative running by Tasman centre Alex Nankivell and fullback Will Jordan went unrewarded during the first half, with Jordan in particular looking like Tasman's best attacking weapon.
It took experienced captain and lock Alex Ainley to spark Tasman into action after the restart, running strongly onto a Jordan Taufua pass to score between the posts.
Tasman's reprieve was short-lived though as Manawatu struck again, hooker Hunter Prescott crashing over just minute later from another well organised lineout drive.
Manawatu continued to pile on the pressure, winger Willy Ambaka and lock Jackson Hemopo both going close to scoring tries, as Tasman's defence met the challenge to keep their line intact.
Tasman's stocks appeared to plummet once again midway through the half when winger Tima Faingaanuku was yellow-carded for alleged dangerous contact with a defender in the air.
But Tasman struck almost instantly when a searing break by Jordan found Canterbury loan winger Michael Green in support for a crucial try to reduce the margin to 22-20 with 13 minutes remaining.
Two late Black penalties stretched Manawatu's lead out to eight points as Tasman continued to infringe, their disappointing performance summed up perfectly by Jordan Taufua's late sinbinning for collapsing a maul.
A try to midfielder Hamish Northcott right on fulltime sealed Tasman's humiliation to also secure Manawatu a try-scoring bonus point.
It certainly wasn't what Tasman coach Leon MacDonald was expecting after a solid week's buildup.
"It was a really disappointing performance," he said.
"We had a really good week, we felt we prepared really well and then through a number of different little errors, we just managed to find every single way possible to put pressure on ourselves. So yeah, I'm obviously very disappointed with the way we performed.
"It's only round two, this doesn't mean it's the end of the season by any stretch, but it does put pressure on us to get things right pretty quickly. Some of it's individuals that need to take a look at their performance and some of it's team issues that we need to clarify.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game, they're a good team Manawatu. But we did expect to front a lot more than we did today."
It doesn't get any easier for Tasman as they now prepare to travel to Hamilton next Sunday to take on Waikato.
AT A GLANCE
Manawatu 35 (Nick Crosswell, Kurt Baker, Hunter Prescott, Hamish Northcott tries, Otere Black 3 con, 3 pen) Tasman 20 (Alex Ainley, Michael Green tries, Mitchell Hunt 2 con, 2 pen) HT: 15-3
