Canterbury end winless streak

Editor

Canterbury returned to their winning ways after beating Taranaki 26-23 in a hard-fought battle in New Plymouth on Sunday.

Canterbury returned to their winning ways after beating Taranaki 26-23 in a hard-fought battle in New Plymouth on Sunday.

The defending champions – who lost their three previous matches to Tasman, Southland and North Harbour – left it late and scored 17 unanswered points in the final quarter which secured them the win.

This came via a Tom Taylor penalty in the 76th minute and tries from Johnny McNicholl and Matt Todd.

Earlier, Taranaki raced into an 11-0 lead in the first half thanks to penalties from Codey Rei and Marty McKenzie as well as a try from Seta Tamanivalu.

Canterbury struck back with two Taylor penalties before Rei scored a converted try which gave the hosts an 18-6 lead at half-time.

Taylor added slotted another penalty shorlty after the restart but the Amber and Blacks extend their lead when Waisake Naholo scored their this try in the 58th minute.

This sparked the fightback from Canterbury which ultimately resulted in a deserved victory.

The scorers:

For Taranaki:
Tries: Tamanivalu, Rei, Naholo
Con: McKenzie
Pens: McKenzie, Rei

For Canterbury:
Tries: McNicholl, Todd
Cons: Taylor 2
Pens: Taylor 4

Taranaki: 15 James Marshall, 14 Cody Rei, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Marty McKenzie, 9 Chris Smylie, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Mitchell Crosswell, 6 Iopu Iopu-Aso, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Riki Hoeata, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Mitchell Graham.
Replacements: 16 Sione Lea, 17 Ryan Cocker, 18 Leighton Price, 19 Lachlan Boshier, 20 Jamison Gibson-Park, 21 Jackson Ormond, 22 Kurt Baker.

Canterbury: 15 Colin Slade, 14 Patrick Osborne, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Rob Thompson, 11 Johnny McNicholl, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Mitchell Drummond, 8 Nasi Manu (c), 7 Matt Todd, 6 Luke Whitelock, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Ben Funnell, 1 Alex Hodgman.
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 JJ Manning, 19 Tom Sanders, 20 Steve Alfeld, 21 Adam Whitelock, 22 Milford Keresoma.

Referee: Mike Fraser