To repeat an over-used Kiwi rugby coaching cliché,“there’s plenty of work to do”.
That was the initial feeling after the Tasman Mako men played out a hard-fought pre-season NPC clash with defending champs Canterbury at Lansdowne Park this afternoon.
After 80 minutes Canterbury emerged victorious,31-26. However, as is the case with most build-up matches, the score was incidental to the opportunity for both sides to get in some much-needed game time against quality opposition.
Neither team was at full strength, but not far from it. There were a host of Super Rugby players, a handful of former All Blacks and plenty of exciting talents on display, all given a chance to bid for inclusion in teams for next weekend’s NPC openers, Tasman meeting North Harbour in Nelson on Friday and Canterbury taking on Auckland on Saturday.
The fact Canterbury scored five tries to the local side’s four is indicative of the Red and Blacks’ overall dominance, especially in the first half, despite the narrow scoreline. They were able to build lengthy periods of pressure, leading to points, whether through lineout drives or clever back play. Tasman had to rely more on individual skills, their desire to create positional dominance often blunted by poor discipline or untimely turnovers.
Several Mako players took their chance to shine. All Black-recruit-in-waiting Noah Hotham directed play well in the first half, Kyren Taumoefolau scored a spectacular intercept try, Ethan Blackadder and Shannon Frizell displayed the work rate that earned them black jerseys while late substitute Leo Marfell scored with his first touch at this level, and added a second soon after, looking comfortable at this level.
Head coach Jono Phillips agreed with the “plenty to work on” summation.
“It was exciting to have that game and to see where we are at.
“Canterbury are a fantastic side to have as a pre-season game. We unearthed some new talent had a look at some new structures, which we will be able to review.
“There are some areas like the breakdown and our discipline which let us down, but they are areas we can fix ourselves.
“There were also some moments when some of the younger players’ skill sets let them down, but that is part of playing under pressure at this level. They will learn from that.
“We had many passages of good play. We played much of the first half in their half, which put us under pressure, but once we got a roll on we looked really dangerous, playing Mako rugby,” he added.
Frizell said he relished the chance to get back into a Mako jersey.
“My last game for Tasman was 2021,” he recalled. “It is exciting to be back. I haven’t played since March in Japan when I broke my hand. Now my body is all good, it’s just the lungs, I was certainly fighting for some oxygen out there.
“It’s always good coming back to the Tasman environment – there is some familiar faces but a lot of new faces too. I have seen them come through Marlborough Boys’ and Nelson College so it will be good to get to play with them this year.”
Tasman Mako team v Canterbury: 1 KershawlSykes-Martin, 2 Eli Oudenryn, 3 Vea Taumoefolau, 4 Lopeti Faifua, 5 Antonio Shalfoon, 6 Johnny Lee, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 8 Shannon Frizell, 9 Noah Hotham, 10 Taine Robinson, 11 Kyren Taumoefolau, 12 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 13 Cooper Roberts, 14 Jack Gray, 15 Maloni Kunawave.
Bench: Tom Heywood, Dylan Irvine, Sione Mafi, Hunter Leppein, Tayne Hemopo, Rory Scott, Mason Lund, Cooper Grant, Nic Sauira, Matthew Lowe, Leo Marfell, Izzy Kamana.
