Taranaki stun Otago
An extraordinary second-half fightback helped Taranaki to a 31-27 win in Dunedin on Friday in the Air New Zealand Cup.
An extraordinary second-half fightback helped Taranaki to a 31-27 win in Dunedin on Friday in the Air New Zealand Cup.
Taranaki trailed 22-7 at the break, but dotted down four unanswered second-half tries to claim the spoils before Lucky Mulipola's try at the death at least got the home side two bonus points.
It wasn't just the comeback that was remarkable either. It was Taranaki's first win at Carisbrook in 22 years – the House of Pain has not been nearly as painful this year as in others, for any visiting team.
It was a fitting way for prop Tony Penn to celebrate his 100th game for the province as well.
Otago scored almost immediately in a peculiar game of two halves, when openside Eben Joubert raced to the line after taking a ball off Daniel Bowden's shoulder. The TMO ruled a 5m scrum, from which, Otago moved the ball left for Craig Newby to score, Bowden converting to make it 7-0.
The scores were level again ten minutes later, when full-back Ace Malo cut through the Otago defence and raced 45 metres to a brilliant individual try. Willie Ripia converted to make it 7-7.
A Bowden penalty gave Otago back the lead, and with Taranaki slipping off too many tackles, a second try was inevitable. It came from Glen Horton, who was a part of a four-man overlap as Otago turned the screw.
Just before the break, Karne Hesketh burst through the line coming off his wing to make it 22-7, and Otago were in complete control.
The second half was all Taranaki though. Man of the match Jayden Hayward began the fightback, making a clean break through the middle and feeding his centre companion Nathan Hohaia for a score, with Ripia making it 22-14 from the tee.
Moments later, it was 22-19, with Paul Perez capitalising on another Hayward break to go over in the corner.
Otago woke up, but their guests were not in charitable mood. With 16 minutes to go, the lead changed hands for the first time when the Otago scrum was expertly wheeled, number eight Neemia Soqata broke, and Scott Waldrom was on hand to take the scoring pass. Ripia's conversion hit the post, leaving the score 24-22 in Taranaki's favour.
Hayward was again at the centre of Taranaki's next try, sending an exzquisite pass out to Perez who flew over for his second, and taking Otago out of bonus point territory.
It cued an intense final five minutes from Otago, with Hesketh having two tries ruled out, one for a forward pass, and one by his own clumsy hands, but finally Mulipola provided the hosts with something to take from the match – not nearly what they should have had though.
The scorers:
For Otago:
Tries: Newby, Horton, Hesketh, Mulipola
Cons: Bowden 2
Pen: Bowden
For Taranaki:
Tries: Malo, Hohaia, Perez 2, Waldrom
Cons: Ripia 3
Otago: 15 Glen Horton, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 11 Ben R Smith, 10 Daniel Bowden, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Stephen Setephano, 7 Eben Joubert, 6 Craig Newby (c), 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Ben Nolan, 2 Jason MacDonald, 1 Keith Cameron,
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Jed Vercoe, 18 Uili Kolo'ofai, 19 Paul Grant, 20 Sean Romans, 21 Chris Noakes, 22 Lucky Mulipola.
Taranaki: 15 Asalemo Malo, 14 Paul Perez, 13 Nathan Hohaia, 12 Jayden Hayward, 11 Shayne Austin, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Brett Goodin, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Scott Waldrom, 6 Chris Walker, 5 Craig Clarke, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Hamish Mitchell, 2 Laurence Corlett, 1 Tony Penn (c),
Replacements: 16 James Annabell, 17 Shane Cleaver, 18 Tom Ryder, 19 Nemia Soqeta, 20 Brendan Haami, 21 Jonathan Spratt, 22 Jack Cameron.
Referee: Josh Noonan