Taranaki dispatch Auckland

Taranaki piled further misery on Auckland with a 49-38 victory at Eden Park in Mitre 10 Cup action on Saturday.

Taranaki move to third on the standings with three wins from four while Auckland are fifth with only one win from five.

It was a tale of two halves as Auckland led 25-19 at the interval. But 30 points from Taranaki to Auckland’s 13 in the second-half meant Taranaki claimed the victory by an 11-point margin.

Taranaki opened the scoring with two quick-fire tries after seven minutes, first Declan O’Donnell going over in the corner courtesy of a long Seta Tamanivalu pass and the second from an opportunistic Toa Halafihi intercept after Auckland attempted to run the ball from inside their own half.

Soon after, the hosts responded with a Vince Aso try before Marcel Renata bashed over in the 18th minute after a series of powerful carries from the forwards.

Auckland slotted two penalties to take an 18-12 lead before Taranaki edged back in front via a Stephen Perofeta try created by Sean Wainui’s inside pass.

But Auckland regained the lead just before half-time after great carrying in the build-up from Jerome Kaino allowed Taleni Seu to get over the line.

In the 50th minute, the Taranaki scrum completely decimated Auckland’s, pushing them all the way over their try-line with Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi going over at the back of the set-piece.

Lachlan Boshier then got in on the act when he kicked ahead an errant Auckland pass to race through, collect and dot down. Kylem O’Donnell extended the visitors’ lead with a swift counter-attack after Taranaki pounced on another loose pass from Auckland.

But Aso, despite being on the losing side, would have the last laugh by grabbing his hat-trick after good work from Jordan Trainor. Small consolation, however, for an Auckland side who now only have one win from five attempts.

The scorers:

For Auckland:
Tries: Aso 3, Renata, Seu
Cons: Hickey, Elkington-Macdonald
Pens: Hickey 3

For Taranaki:
Tries: D O’Donnell, Halafihi, Perofeta, Tahuiorangi, Boshier, K O’Donnell
Cons: Banks 5
Pens: Banks 2, Perofeta

Auckland: 15 Jordan Trainor, 14 Vince Aso, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Pryor Collier, 10 Tyrone Elkington-Macdonald, 9 Jono Hickey, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Ben Nee-Nee, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Marcel Renata, 2 Greg Pleasants-Tate, 1 Isi Tu’ungafasi
Replacements: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Emersen Tamura-Paki, 18 Marco Fepuleai, 19 Lyndon Dunshea, 20 Sinclair Dominikovich-Murray, 21 Lisati Milo-Harris, 22 Latiume Fosita, 23 Tumua Manu

Taranaki: 15 Marty McKenzie, 14 Declan O’Donnell, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 Sean Wainui, 11 Manasa Mataele, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 6 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 5 Fin Hoeata, 4 Brad Tucker, 3 Angus Ta’avao (c), 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Mitchell Graham
Replacements: 16 Donald Maka, 17 Jared Proffit, 18 Reuben O’Neill, 19 Kane Thompson, 20 Adrian Wyrill, 21 Kylem O’Donnell, 22 Charlie Ngatai, 23 Johnny Fa’auli

Referee: Mike Fraser