Turbos comeback costs Counties

A second-half comeback from Manawatu secured a 36-31 bonus-point win over Counties Manukau in their Air NZ Cup rugby match at Palmerston North on Sunday.

A second-half comeback from Manawatu secured a 36-31 bonus-point win over Counties Manukau in their Air NZ Cup rugby match at Palmerston North on Sunday.

The Turbos bounced back from trailing 14-24 at half time, with three second-period tries to snatch an unlikely win. Counties will have to settle for two bonus points for their efforts.

Counties scored within the first minute of the game after Manawatu failed to control the kickoff.

Full-back Ahsee Tuala pounced on the loose ball and broke on the blindside before feeding blindside flanker Sikeli Nabou, who finished off..

Counties continues to build on their early momentum and added three more tries through prop Simon Lemalu, dangerous winger Lelia Masaga and the industrious Tuala.

Manawatu fly-half Aaron Cruden kept his side in the game with three penalties while full-back Casey Stone added a try when he finished off a counterattack started by skipper Nick Croswell on the opposite flank.

The second half would belong to the Manawatu pack, with Croswell prominent, as they reacted to coach Dave Rennie's changing room pep-talk and proceeded to outplay Counties in possession and territory.

They narrowed the gap through a try to centre Frank Bryant.

But Manawatu immediately coughed up another try to Counties' Josh Hall when they bungled the kickoff and the first fly-half collected the loose ball to step inside the cover defence and score and convert for a 31-19 lead.

Full-back Stone provided much-needed inspiration for Manawatu when he chased down and tackled Tuala who looked certain to score after an intercept from inside his own half.

In a purple patch of ten minutes after Stone's heroics, Manawatu put Counties under sustained pressure and substitute centre Tevita Taufui scored two tries that were converted by Cruden.

Manawatu sewed up the game with another Cruden penalty with eleven minutes to play.

The Scorers:

For Manawatu:
Tries: Bryant, Stone, Taufui 2
Cons: Cruden 2
Pens: Cruden 4

For Counties Manukau:
Tries: Hall, Masaga, Tauafao, Nabou, Tuala
Cons: Hall 3

Counties: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Tasesa Lavea (c), 11 Sherwin Stowers, 10 Josh Hall, 9 Notise Tauafao, 8 Viliami Fihaki/Fritz Lee, 7 Mark Selwyn, 6 Sikeli Nabou, 5 Rees Logan, 4 Jamie Chipman, 3 Simon Lemalu, 2 Matt Holloway, 1 Kojak Faioso.
Replacements: 16 Ilaisa Maasi, 17 Graham Dewes, 18 DJ Forbes, 19 Viliami Fihaki/Fritz Lee, 20 August Pulu, 21 Seremaia Tagicakibau, 22 Tim Nanai-Williams.

Manawatu: 15 Casey Stone, 14 Andre Taylor, 13 Johnny Leota,12 Francis Bryant, 11 Lote Raikabula, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Bertus Mulder, 7 Doug Tietjens, 6 Nick Crosswell, 5 James Goode,4 Michael Fitzgerald, 3 David Te Moana, 2 Sean O'Connor, 1 Grant Polson,
Replacements: 16 Rob Foreman, 17 Talau Hala, 18 Lisiate Fa'Aoso, 19 Hamish Gosling, 20 Isaac Thompson, 21 Tevita Taufui, 22 Kurt Baker.