Canterbury suffered a disappointing 26-6 loss to Waikato in Hamilton tonight but still finished top of the ITM Cup points table and will qualify for a home final if the Red and Blacks win next weekend’s semi-final.
Canterbury were second best in most facets of the game tonight. The forwards struggled against an efficient Waikato pack and the Red and Black backs too often tried to get things going from behind the advantage line.
In saying that, loose forwards Matt Todd and Nasi Manu were outstanding for Canterbury, while the side’s best back was Ryan Crotty, who was dangerous at second-five despite not having a lot of recent game time due to Sonny Bill Williams’ presence.
Waikato won two tries to nil, but strangely decided against pressing home their advantage and going for the four-try bonus point which would have taken them clear of Canterbury to the top of the table.
Canterbury were at the receiving end of some strange calls from the officials tonight, most notably when Todd stole the ball off a Waikato attacker on his side the try line and pressed it down, only for the TMO to call for an attacking scrum instead of a drop out 22.
Waikato scored their second try from this scrum – Soseni Anesi squeezing past Telusa Veainu to receive a long pass and dive over.
Waikato went out to a 16-point lead thanks to three penalties to Trent Renata and a try to No8 Alex Bradley.
In the final six minutes of the first half Canterbury finally struck back through two Colin Slade penalties.
Canterbury simply couldn’t get their hands on the ball in the first stanza. When they did they opted to push 50-50 passes and simply lost the ball in contact.
As a result they couldn’t build their normal pressure game and had to defend for long periods.
After the break Slade missed a long penalty attempt. Shortly after, Anesi should have scored but dropped the ball over the line following a sustained Waikato attack.
The TMO made his controversial call just after this and Anesi got his try in the end.
Another penalty by Renata made the score 26-6 with 10 minutes to go and there was no way back for Canterbury.
A fine run from the back by Slade (he was playing fullback at this stage as Stephen Brett had going to first-five after coming on for Sean Maitland), with good support from Crotty almost resulted in a try but Waikato scrambled and carried the ball back.
Canterbury’s semi-final opponents are yet to be decided, but the Red and Blacks will need to up their game next weekend.
They missed the driving forces of Andy Ellis and Sonny Bill Williams – both stars for the side recently and now with the All Blacks.
However, home ground advantage will count for a lot and they will look to regroup this week.
The scrum in particular will be a work on for Canterbury. The backs also lacked penetration apart from Crotty so that’s another area of concern.
Waikato – Tries: Alex Bradley, Soseni Anesi. Cons: Trent Renata 2. Pens: Renata 4.
Canterbury - Pens: Colin Slade 2.
Kickers:
Renata 6 from 7
Slade: 2 from 3
Canterbury:
1. Wyatt Crockett (c)
2. Steve Fualau
3. Peter Borlase
4. Rob Verbakel
5. Isaac Ross
6. Ash Parker
7. Matt Todd
8. Nasi Manu (Brendon O’Connor 72min)
9. Willi Heinz (Takerei Norton 79min)
10. Colin Slade
11. Telusa Veainu (Sam Monaghan 57min)
12. Ryan Crotty
13. Robbie Fruean
14. Tu Umaga-Marshall
15. Sean Maitland (Stephen Brett 57min)
Reserves not used:
16. Paul Ngauamo
17. Andrew Olorenshaw
19. Tom Broughton