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Auckland still in with a chance
18/10/2009

Auckland are still in the playoffs hunt after hammering Counties-Manukau 37-14 at Eden Park on Sunday afternoon.

Leading by only 10-7 after an indifferent opening stanza where neither team was able to find any attacking rhythm, Auckland turned it on in the second half, running in three tries to one to secure a valuable four try bonus point.

The victory keeps Auckland well and truly in contention for a semi-finals berth in a log-jammed top of the table as they currently sit in sixth position and travel south to take on fifth placed Waikato next week in an intriguing quarter-final showdown.

Auckland will need either Southland or Hawke’s Bay to drop a game next week to be in with a chance to claim a spot in the semis, but given the opportunity Auckland head coach Mark Anscombe believes his side has the self-belief to pull off a win.

“Winning brings confidence and we’ve had three good wins in a row now and we know it’s all in front of us and the winner could get through,” Anscombe said.

“We’ve got to make sure we go down there and be the winner but Waikato are a good team at home and they’ve got confidence as well,” he said.

“We do lose a couple of players (All Blacks Jerome Kaino and John Afoa) but we’ve got plenty of confidence and we’ve got to go down there and believe in ourselves and throw everything at it.”

Needing a bonus point against Counties-Manukau to remain in contention for the playoffs, Auckland got off to the perfect start when fullback Paul Williams crashed over from a quick tap five minutes into the game to open the scoring.

But things couldn’t stick for the home side who were unable to capitalise on a number of scoring opportunities and had to settle for an Ash Moeke penalty to extend their lead to 10-0.

Counties-Manukau, well known for being a dangerous team from broken play, were intent on playing an expansive, running style of rugby as they attacked from within their own twenty two on numerous occasions.

It finally paid off for the Steelers after 25 minutes when Sherwin Stowers made the initial bust up the middle and from the ensuing ruck Tasesa Lavea sent prop Simon Lemalu through a hole before he offloaded to Tim Nanai-Williams to dive over under the posts.

Taniela Moa looked to score on the stroke of halftime as he intercepted the ball and juggled it before racing down the pitch, but referee Ben Skeen adjudged the halfback had knocked it on as Auckland went into the sheds with a narrow 10-7 lead.

But Auckland stepped things up in the second half as flanker Onosa’i Auva’a, who has been particularly impressive for the blue and whites over the last few weeks, kicked things off with a try five minutes after the break.

Number eight Chris Lowrey made the initial break before the ball was recycled and slick passing from Jamie Helleur and Teddy Stanaway saw Auva'a dive over in the corner.

Counties-Manukau threatened a brief revival midway through the second half as they controlled the ball and put pressure on the Auckland defence, nippy fullback Tim Nanai-Williams bagging his second try of the afternoon after he brilliantly chipped over the defence ten metres out before regathering the ball to touchdown.

But two tries from forward powerhouses Jerome Kaino and Peter Saili capped off an encouraging performance from Auckland as they now prepare for Saturday's must-win encounter with Waikato.

“We didn’t have enough ball in the first half and what we did have we were turning over so we couldn’t build any phases to put any pressure on them,” said Anscombe.

“But at least we managed to do that in the second half and played with some more urgency. There was a spell there for about ten minutes where they attacked us and scored that try and at 20-14 it was anyone’s game but the boys really stepped up after that and closed down the game really well.”

Auckland 37 (Paul Williams, Onosa'i Auva'a, Jerome Kaino, Peter Saili tries; Ash Moeke 2 con, 2 pen; Gareth Arlidge pen, 2 con) Counties-Manukau 14 (Tim Nanai-Williams 2 tries, 2 conversions)

Auckland still in with a chance 18/10/2009

Auckland still in with a chance
18/10/2009