Rugby facts

Scorers: Counties Manukau 23 (Ahsee Tuala, Sherwin Stowers tries, Tim Nanai-Williams 2 con, 3 pen) Tasman Makos 3 (Steve Alfeld pen). Halftime: 13-3 Counties Manukau.

Tasman player of the match: Winger Blair Cook.

Counties Manukau player of the match: First-five James Semple.

Key moment: A forward pass thrown by a Makos player in the fourth minute hot on attack. From then on, the error rate continued throughout the match for the visitors.

Statistics

Lineouts: Counties Manukau 14 Tasman 12. Penalties: Counties Manukau 8 Tasman 5. Possession: Tasman 53 per cent Counties Manukau 47. Territory: Tasman 58 Counties Manukau 42. Breakdown wins: Tasman 72 Counties Manukau 49. Minutes in opposition 22: Tasman 11 Counties Manukau 7. Handling errors: Tasman 14 Counties Manukau 9. Turnovers conceded: Tasman 27 Counties Manukau 13.

What they said:

Makos coach Kieran Keane: "A weak performance. A mistake-riddled game. We couldn't get more than two phases going without making fundamental errors. Out-muscled at the breakdown and in a number of other areas. They were clearly superior finishing. We never turned up at all. If you make that number of fundamental errors you can never win a game."

Makos skipper Glen Gregory: "Just disappointed. Last week we were disappointed and wanted to set a platform for our backs. We didn't get our game going. They brought the intensity we wanted to bring and that was the difference really."

Counties Manukau skipper Jamie Chipman: "We had a hiccup last week. We knew we had to come out firing this week. We knew we had to step up in the forwards and we did a lot of work on our set pieces. Happy with the win."

- The Marlborough Express

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