Tasman earn bonus point win over Wellington
TheTasman Mako picked up a vital five points and kept themselves in the race tohost a Mitre 10 Cup premiership semifinal with a hard-fought 28-22 win overWellington in the capital tonight.
BYPETER JONES [Marlborough App]
TheMako led 13-10 at halftime, the sides scoring a try apiece. Finlay Christiepicked up the game’s first five-pointer after a silky break by fullback WillJordan, while Wellington replied through livewire prop Xavier Numia.
Asecond penalty goal by Mitch Hunt on the stroke of halftime ensured the Makoheld a deserved lead at the break, after dominating territory, possession andon the penalty count.
Tasmanopened the second spell in sensational fashion, winger Solomon Alaimalo scoringalmost immediately after the restart as the Mako forwards began to assert theirdominance, especially at set piece.
Looseforward Jacob Norris celebrated his debut with the Mako’s third try beforereplacement John Akau’ola-Laula ranged wide to pick up Tasman’s fourth with 10minutes remaining. Despite a strong finish from the Lions, the Mako held firmto move to the top of the premiership table.
Tasmanskipper David Havili had praise for both his bench and the men with the lownumbers on their backs. "I'm really proud of the way the boys stuck at itin the last 20 minutes ... the bench came on and really lifted us.
"We have got great players up front and full credit to the front row -they were awesome tonight."
Tasmanhead coach Leon MacDonald was also particularly happy with his tight five,suggesting they had set the tone for his side’s performance.
"I’mreally proud of the boys tonight, Wellington are a good team – they have beenpouring a lot of points on everybody so to hold them like we did was a topeffort.
"Thescrum set the attitude … I thought our mauling and our scrum was fantastic. Ourtight five were really up for it tonight.
"Weknew how physical their defense was… so we retained the ball for long periodsand actually took a bit of sting out of their attacking game because we forcedthem to make so many tackles.”
Healso praised the impact of the bench players, particularly Tim O’Malley and RayNiuia, who both contributed to try-scoring movements, plus John Akau’ola-Laula,who scored one.
"Allour subs played really well, which is pleasing because having confidence to usethem is critical heading into the end of the season.”
Nextup for the Mako is a match against Otago in Dunedin, at 4.35pm on Sunday.
Scores
TasmanMako 28 (Finlay Christie, Solomon Alaimalo, Jacob Norris, John Akau’ola-Laulatries, Mitch Hunt 2 pen, con) Wellington 22 (Xavier Numia, Galu Taufale, ThomasUmaga-Jensen tries, Jackson Garden-Bachop pen, 2 con). HT: 13-10 Mako
