News

Bay of Plenty prevail in the mud

Thursday 31st July 2008

Slippery when wet: Tasman struggle to get a scrum going against BoP

Bay of Plenty put aside a marathon journey and atrocious weather conditions to sneak past Tasman 8-7 in Thursday's Air New Zealand Cup opener at a muddy Lansdowne Park.

The stormy conditions that have struck New Zealand meant the visitors took close to 30 hours to complete the journey from Tauranga before arriving in Blenheim just four hours before kick-off.

A combination of closed airports, delayed flights, blocked roads and then a mechanically faltering team bus all contributed to the horror journey the players endured.

It was no surprise then that Tasman held the upper hand in the first half, leading 7-5 at half-time.

But a 73rd minute penalty by fly-half Mike Delany took the Steamers into the lead for the first time in the match and, ultimately, gave the weary travellers a handy one-point victory in the process.

Despite their frustrating travel schedule, the visitors got out of their slippery starting blocks strongly and enjoyed more territory and possesion in the opening exchanges.

The conditions understandably made ball retention difficult while players often lost their footing altogether in the swamp of a surface that lay below them.

Bay of Plenty used their biggest forwards on hand to bulldoze past the home side in the driving rain, but Tasman held off long enough to force a handling error which allowed Miah Nikora to clear for touch from the resulting scrum.

Both side's goal-kickers failed to contribute much needed points with their respective penalties in the wet, but the hosts' territorial advantage finally told in the 32nd minute with a well-taken try to number eight Mark Bright.

Continuity play saw the Tasman side control proceedings with a patient build-up and it was a superb pass by Nikora across the Bay of Plenty defence that fed Bright into space for the try.

Nikora added the tricky conversion that took the home side in front 7-0.

Tasman's slender lead was cut down shortly afterwards when Bay of Plenty hit back before the interval after hooker John Pareanga was driven over from a line-out for a crucial try.

That fully justified the visitors' decision to turn down a shot at goal when awarded a penalty inside Tasman's 22 as they instead kicked for touch and backed the forwards to secure their own ball and organise a drive.

Delany failed to add the extras, but the Steamers were on the board.

In the second half and with more oranges in their tank, Bay of Plenty dominated the third quarter as it camped in the Tasman half.

However they were unable to convert possesion into points when winger Lance MacDonald came excruciatingly close to scoring after collecting a cross-kick from Delany - he was just out in the corner.

The Steamers chance to win the game followed after a back-line move that benefited from Delany almost dropping the ball.

However, the hesitation as he regathered the ball allowed him to feed flying full-back Zar Lawrence into the gap. He reverse-passed to his Sevens team-mate Nigel Hunt who was held in the 22m area and a penalty followed suit.

After missing two previous attempts at goal, Delany had no trouble this time round with the soaked flags raised in the rain behind the posts signalling the end for the Makos.

The scorers:

For Tasman:
Try: Bright
Con: Nikora

For Bay of Plenty:
Try: Pareanga
Pen: Delany

Tasman: 15 Blair Cook, 14 Stephen Sasagi, 13 Kade Poki, 12 Andrew Goodman, 11 Afeleki Pelenise, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Mark Bright, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Jonathon Poff, 5 Alex Ainley, 4 Will Crutchley, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Daniel Perrin, 1 Ben May.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Tristan Moran, 18 Daniel Hyatt, 19 Karl Leary, 20 Lualua Vailoaloa, 21 Mike Pehi, 22 James Marshall.

Bay of Plenty: 15 Zar Lawrence, 14 Lance MacDonald, 13 Paula Asaeli, 12 Nigel Hunt, 11 Jason Hona, 10 Mike Delany, 9 Jamie Nutbrown (c), 8 Colin Bourke, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Solomon King, 5 Culum Retallick, 4 John Moore, 3 James McGougan, 2 John Pareanga, 1 Joe Savage.
Replacements: 16 Dean Elmiger, 17 Arden David-Perrot, 18 Josh Katene, 19 Aidan Kuka, 20 Josh Hall, 21 Kelly Haimona, 22 Toby Arnold.

Referee: Lyndon Bray
TMO: Chris Pollock