Canterbury: Back on track
Canterbury overpowered Waikato by running in five tries to one in completing a rather one-sided 46-13 Air New Zealand Cup win in Christchurch on Friday.
The poor Mooloo men never stood a chance after their hosts stormed into a commanding 29-6 lead at half-time, which ultimately ended the match as a contest.
The Round Three victory extended Canterbury's impressive recent record against Waikato to seven wins from their last nine clashes - Waikato haven't won in Christchurch since 1999.
Carter kicked 19 points as he continued his good early season form, but the All Blacks pivot was outdone by young fullback Colin Slade who set up one try, scored another and looked dangerous on the break.
Carter had the first chance to open the scoring in the second minute and did not disappoint with a 46m angled penalty goal and he was on target again with a 40m penalty kick three minutes later.
The hosts came close to opening the try-count in the 12th minute, but Slade's cross-kick was knocked on in-goal by Michael Paterson thanks to good pressure from All Black hooker Aled de Malmanche.
A second chance then went begging when Kieran Read was penalised for a double-movement after he took a quick-tap penalty and drove for the line as Canterbury looked to turn the pressure into points.
But the home team weren't to be denied a third time and it was little number nine Tyson Keats who finally broke the Waikato line.
A Waikato handling lapse again led to the visitors having to take the ball back behind their own line and conceding a 5m scrum, allowing Keats to sneak under Brendon Leonard's tackle to score.
Carter missed the wide conversion leaving the home team ahead 11-3.
Slade stormed over for the Cantabs' second try after hitting the line at pace before getting on the outside of a Waikato defender in the 25th minute. Carter was more succesful with the conversion to put Canterbury ahead 18-3.
In between these two first-half efforts, centre Tim Bateman was gifted a try when he loomed on the inside of Slade who changed the angle of attack after Carter crabbed across field, throwing a couple of dummy passes before offloading to his full-back.
It was all a touch too easy for the 2008 champions, who coughed up only a couple of penalties to Callum Bruce until Waikato lock Romana Graham scored a soft try in the 50th minute.
Replacement back Adam Whitelock completed the try-scoring action in the 76th minute when the Waikato defence was yet again found wanting inside their 22. Slade converted to complete the huge win for Canterbury.
The scorers:
For Canterbury:
Tries: Keats, Slade, Bateman, Crockett, A WhitelockCons: Carter 2, Slade
Pens: Carter 5
For Waikato:
Try: GrahamCon: Bruce
Pens: Bruce
Canterbury: 15 Colin Slade, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Tim Bateman, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 James Paterson, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Tyson Keats, 8 Kieran Read, 7 George Whitelock (c), 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 James Broadhurst, 3 Peter Borlase, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Will Catherwood, 17 Andrew Olorenshaw, 18 Mike Coman, 19 Matt Todd, 20 Willi Heinz, 21 Stephen Brett, 22 Adam Whitelock.
Waikato: 15 Sosene Anesi, 14 Tim Mikkelson, 13 Roimata Hansell-Pune, 12 Callum Bruce, 11 Dwayne Sweeney, 10 Sam Christie, 9 Brendon Leonard, 8 Liam Messam (c), 7 Jack Lam , 6 Jordan Smiler, 5 Toby Lynn, 4 Romana Graham, 3 Ben May, 2 Aled de Malmanche, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Nathan White, 18 Kevin O'Neill, 19 Ray Allen, 20 David Bason, 21 Trent Renata, 22 Save Tokula.
Referee: Keith Brown
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