Taranaki blow start to ITM Cup campaign

BY GLENN MCLEAN

The ground announcer at Yarrow Stadium at least got one thing right last night.

In-between interrupting play with ridiculous messages he played a song in the 65th minute with the chorus "let's get it started".

It's a pity Taranaki were not listening because they couldn't get anything started last night, slumping to a 26-19 loss to Northland.

The air of expectation that filled the stadium blew out faster than it took Taranaki to make a handful of mistakes.

The simple fact was Taranaki were beaten in just about every aspect of the ITM game.

Beaten up front, beaten in the backs, beaten to the loose ball and a distant second when it came to counter-attacking.

"Head back to Auckland, Wellington and Manawatu," was the call from one disgruntled fan, as he walked out with three minutes to play.

While his rant might have been a bit tough, it was hard not to feel a huge amount of disappointment at the fare offered first up by this hyped up Taranaki side.

The officials will be hoping there is a fair amount of forgiveness from the fans, otherwise there might be a smaller than budgeted for crowd next Friday when Tasman hit town.

If there was one point that summed up last night it was in the 76th minute when Northland were awarded a penalty just inside their half with the score 23-19 in their favour.

Some needless back-chat from Taranaki saw them marched 10 metres, the kick went over and Taranaki lost any chance of victory.

Not that they deserved it.

While Taranaki persisted with their flat pass attack, Northland came from depth, punching holes in a defensive line that continues to battle with the pattern they are given.

Both sides struggled with the slippery ball in the early exchanges, as a thick dew and hovering mist covered the ground.

The crowd barely had a voice until the 12th minute when a clear Taranaki overlap was ruined with an over-ambitious pass from second five-eighth Jayden Hayward. It was grabbed by big Northland loose forward Dean Budd, the No6 running 70m to score.

Livewire Taranaki left wing David Smith gave the crowd some excitement, but the occasions were few and far between in the opening quarter.

Northland had much the better of the opening 20 minutes as they enjoyed plenty of possession, using it wisely to run from depth close to the rucks.

They also fed off plenty of Taranaki mistakes as the home side turned the ball over and gave danger man Rene Ranger far too much space.

The All Blacks wing, playing at centre in this match, created Northland's second try as he caught the Taranaki defence out of position to set up his wing Simon Munro.

Mistakes continued to haunt Taranaki as they strove to get back into the game.

Taranaki finally got their noses in front on the half hour after they strung some phases together, Chris Walker on the end of some good sniping work from halfback Tyson Keats.

The try did nothing to slow down the errors, however, as Northland continued to find holes in Taranaki's defence.

The lead swapped just before the break, a second try from Lachie Munro countered by another Ripia effort as Northland were penalised from the kick-off.

While Taranaki would gladly have taken the 19-18 lead to the break, Taranaki coach Colin Cooper would have been livid with the fact his side continued to make far too many mistakes as they rarely put more than two or three phases together.

Any hope the home fans had that the tide would turn in the second half lasted as long as it took Hayward to throw his second intercept pass, this time to Lachie Munro who ran 50m to score.

The frustration was evident, as the "wake-up" calls became louder from the crowd.

Hayward was finally dragged after 55 minutes, the introduction of teenager Beauden Barrett bringing one of the loudest cheers of the night. A sullen Cooper offered little after the game.

"You can't give away intercept tries – that's 14 points there," he said. "I thought if we controlled the ball better and built and had not given the ball back things might have been different."

Cooper went on to praise his defence. "I thought it was pretty good.

"They didn't bust us and the only way they won it was through our mistakes, but I thought our defence was the best it had been and if it wasn't we would have been well beaten."

He felt his side had struggled to put phases together because of the pressure they were put under and the way Northland slowed their ball down at the breakdown.

Northland 26 (L Munro, D Budd, S Munro tries; L Munro 3 pens, con) Taranaki 19 (C Walker; W Ripia 4 pens, con). HT 18-19.

- © Fairfax NZ News