Opinion: Tasman get timely reminder

Opinion: Tasman get timely reminder  

By Peter Jones [MarlboroughWeekly]

You would hardly term it a wake-up call. 

After all, the Tasman Mako have been probably the mostwide awake team running around the NPC so far this season. 

Sunday’s battling 21-17 victory over North Harbour atTrafalgar Park was more of a timely reminder that, if you are even slightly offyour game in the Mitre 10 premiership, you will pay for it. 

Fortunately for the Mako, they found a way to get thejob done against a well-organised Harbour outfit who certainly deserved morethan the one point they picked up in Nelson. 

Immediately following a clinical 80-minute effortagainst Counties Manukau the previous week, the Mako turned on an error-ladenfirst half. It began at set piece time. Their scrum was bullied, their lineoutaccuracy went out the window and they were hustled and harassed at breakdowntime. 

Harbour were good value for their 17-7 lead at thebreak, having got their tactics spot on, an effort bearing the hallmark oftheir coach, former Mako mentor Kieran Keane. 

He would not have been so happy with their second 40minutes though as the Mako, buoyed by some key substitutions, controlledpossession, applied pressure and reversed the flow of penalties from refereeRichard Kelly’s whistle.      

Pressure produces points and eventually the triescame, albeit the critical one through a penalty try, a seven-point referee’sgift which matched that awarded to Harbour in the first spell. At least he wasconsistent. 

The Mako will have learned a lot from the match. Topteams need to be able to cope with on-field adversity and scoreboard pressure,a rare situation for the Mako so far this season who have held healthy halftimeleads in all of their previous encounters.  

Although they definitely have, as they inevitably say,“plenty to work on”, the fact the competition leaders battled back into a matchthat could have slipped away suggested a resolve that will be needed if theyare to go all the way in 2019.     

Mako co-head coach Clarke Dermody put a part of hisside’s early set piece woes down to“mind-set”.          

“Harbour took us on through the front door, at the setpiece,” he said. 

“If that’s shaky it tends to flow through our game, itwas almost catching. In that first half we just couldn’t get going because ofthat.” 

Dermody said there were no major tactical changes madeat halftime. “It was more a bit of a mental barb around bringing a bit moreintensity in our carry and our collision, around the breakdown.  

“In the first half they were sending a lot [ofplayers] in and slowing our ball down. That was good tactics from them and wedidn’t quite match that.  

“Once we got that area sorted we were able to getgo-forward and hold the ball … then gaps started to open. Were we quiteclinical enough? Probably not, but to get a win like that says a lot about theteam.  

“We are in a position [on the table] where every teamis going to bring a lot of intensity and their A game every week … because ofhow we have been playing. If you are off a wee bit then anyone can beatyou.  

“I feel our guys understand that, but today wasprobably a good wee reminder of what it actually looks like.”  

For Mako fans the Harbour match was something of areality check.  

The fashion in which their side had disposed of theirfirst five opponents may have created some false optimism and feeling that themen in red and blue only had to turn up to win. 

Harbour’s stern challenge could not have come at abetter time for a side, and its supporters, who both have highexpectations.  

Waikato await in Hamilton on Saturday. How the Makorespond after a below-par performance will be significant.