Mako seal home semi-final with win over Hawkes Bay
Itwasn't pretty, but the Tasman Mako sealed their spot in the Mitre 10 Cup semifinals with a gritty 29-0 bonus point win over Hawke's Bay in atrociousconditions at Trafalgar Park tonight.
BY PETER JONES [Marlborough App] ANDJONTY DINE [Nelson App]
Tasmanare assured of hosting a semifinal in Nelson next week after taking maximumpoints and regaining top spot in the premiership.
Atry either side of half time helped the Mako hold off a brave first halfchallenge, before adding two late touchdowns to grab a welcome bonus point.Coupled with this was the host's dogged defensive effort, which kept theMagpies scoreless.
Bothsides struggled to control possession but it was the visitors who got thebetter of the opening exchanges.
Starvedof territory early on, the Mako finally opened the scoring through a Mitch Huntpenalty after 27 minutes of sloppy footy.
Asthe siren sounded on a dreary half, in-form lock Pari Pari Parkinson muscledhis way over the chalk for the game’s opening try.
Despitedominating field position during the first 40, Hawke's Bay were unable to geton the board, the Mako taking a 10-0 lead into the break.
TheMako then struck immediately after oranges, Tim O'Malley running a superb lineoff Hunt to stretch the advantage to 15.
Huntthen put the result to bed with 10 to play, the mercurial fly half crawling hisway through the defence to slide in under the sticks.
ReplacementJack Grooby claimed the bonus point for Tasman, the little half back sneakingover after 25 phases of relentless attack.
Tasman’sopponents next week will either be Canterbury, if Auckland are able to moveahead of Tasman in the overall standings, or the fourth-placed qualifier ifTasman remain on top.
Makocoach Leon MacDonald said he was "really happy” with the result,especially given a few mitigating factors. "We didn’t get the rub of thegreen with the elements … we played into torrential rain and wind in the firsthalf, then it died in the second and we didn’t get the benefit then either.
"Howeverwe ground them down and although we made a few mistakes as would be expected inthose conditions we were able to strike just before halftime which wascritical.
"Therewas some pretty intense attack from Hawke’s Bay too, but we managed to hold onthere and finish the job with some momentum at the end, so it was a verypleasing effort.”
Lateslumps have marked a few of the Mako’s recent encounters so it was particularlypleasing to see the bench come on this week and provide a noticeable lift.
"JackGrooby was outstanding tonight,” said MacDonald. "We have got anoutstanding half in Fin Christie but to bring someone like Jack on who canspeed the game up the way he does is exactly what we want from our nine.
"Ray Niuia was also outstanding off the bench … and our reserve props gota scrum penalty, so that impact was something we have been working hard toget.”
TheMako defence was outstanding, as the scoreline suggested, with the inside backsleading the way. Christie, Hunt and O’Malley made a series of crucial tacklesin the first spell as the Magpies threatened to get over the line.
MacDonaldalso made mention of a rookie, a speedster and a veteran. "Mike Curry wasfantastic, worked all day and grew in confidence. I’m thrilled for him and itgives us some more depth in a position we are light in.
"Tomas [Aoake] is also starting to find his feet – he brings somethingdifferent on attack and is very courageous.”
AlexAinley, in his first outing for the season, got through 80 minutes, no surpriseto MacDonald who joked that the team hadn’t got any minutes out of the seasonedcampaigner this year so were making the most of it.
"He gets grumpy when he gets substituted and just loves this sort of wetweather arm wrestle. It was great to see him back on the field.”
Scorers:
TasmanMako 29 (Pari Pari Parkinson, Tim O'Malley, Mitch Hunt, Jack Grooby tries, Hunt3 cons, 1 pen) Hawke’s Bay Magpies 0. HT: 10-0.
Standings (all teams except Tasman have a game to play): Tasman 43,Auckland 41, Canterbury 37, Wellington 29, North Harbour 29, Counties Manukau16, Taranaki 13.
