Waikato too good for Manawatu in Air New Zealand Cup opener

The Air New Zealand Cup got under way with a Thursday night clash between last year’s champions Waikato and last year’s wooden spooners Manawatu in Palmeston North. The champs proved too good, romping away with a 41-15 victory.

This hardly seemed like a marquee match up to open New Zealand’s domestic competition as Waikato boast 13 players in their starting line up with Super 14 experience, while Manawatu are largely semi-professional players and lack experience at the top level.

However the home side showed they are much improved from last year, showing a great deal of character on defence as they were asked to make tackle after tackle. With only 25% of the possession, Manawatu managed two tries and only tired in the final moments of the game.

The different in class between the two teams was not evident in the opening minutes as both teams mixed it up in the forwards. Surprisingly enough it was Manawatu who got on the scoreboard first when their forwards secured a turnover, their only player with Super 14 experience Joggy Viljoen spread the ball wide and wing Aaron James would score in the corner.

Conceding the early try seemed to spur Waikato into action and they quickly marched down the field through their forwards. After winning a penalty they took a quick tap and spread the ball down the right flank where Soseni Anesi scored in the corner. Stephen Donald’s conversion levelled the scores.

As the Waikato forwards continued to press home their advantage, the home side began to give away a number of penalties. From one of those penalties Waikato got an attacking line out and drove the ball over the goal line where flanker Marty Holah scored his team’s second try.

The parade of penalties continued and the inevitable yellow card was given to captain Hayden Triggs in the 23rd minute. With their opposition down to 14 players, Waikato put the game beyond doubt with two more tries, firstly to Donald in the 27th minute and then to debutante Roimata Hansell-Pune in the 31st.

Manawatu found a second wind late in the first half and won themselves a penalty in front of the uprights. Full back Matty James kicked the goal and the teams went into the break with Waikato up by 26-10.

Waikato opened the second half with a good attacking raid but were repelling by even better defence. There appeared to be nothing on when Donald received the ball on half way but he somehow beat two defenders and then scampered 50 metres to score his second try of the game, which he converted.

The visitors continued their dominance but Manawatu held them out for long periods with desperate but well organised defence. On the 55 minute mark both sides emptied their benches and the standard of play dropped noticeably.

Waikato prop Craig West gave the home side a glimmer of hope just after the hour mark when he foolishly stomped on an opponent away from the ball and received a yellow card. Up against a seven man forward pack Manawatu gained parity up front, but it was their backs who made the most of their chances.

Replacement back Francisco Bosch made a break near his own 22, and took off down field. As the cover defence closed in on him he put in a clever chip kick, then deliberately headed the ball away from the full back and scored what was a fantastic individual try – to the delight of the home fans.

Waikato would add another penalty goal to replacement William Ripia and a try to Jackson Willison to close out the scoring.

After several months of Super 14 and test rugby, the standard of Air New Zealand Cup is certainly much lower than what fans would like and given the gross overexposure this competition will receive, expect fans to react with a big yawn especially with the World Cup just six weeks away.

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The Waikato too good for Manawatu in Air New Zealand Cup opener by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.