The Mighty Mooloos are through to the ITM Cup Final!
30th October 2010 09:15PM
On a fine night at Eden Park, the Mighty Mooloos came to secure a place in the ITM Cup finals. Auckland were odds on favourites to win, but with Waikato winning in over-time during the regular season and dominating Canterbury the week before, they had an excellent chance of victory.
The first half started with a Trent Renata penalty, though Auckland responded quickly with a converted try. After trading penalty goals Waikato struck back with stabbing run by Save Tokula, placing the ball for Sosene Anesi to pick up and score in the corner.
Auckland came back strongly scoring shortly after kickoff, though the mooloo men are hard to hold down. A turnover and storming run from Jack Lam led to great field position, and a strong lineout and drive opened the line up for Dominiko to score.
Waikato went into the first half with a 1 point lead and were strong out of the blocks in the second half, scoring first with a try to Romana Graham. Auckland responded with a penalty, but the try line beckoned again for the Mooloos with Henry Speight scoring in the corner.
Auckland hit back strongly with a couple of timely substitutions, scoring under the posts followed by a penalty and another try from a lucky bounce of the ball.
The men from the Waikato were not beaten yet, and although they were trailing 28 to 37 they still kept their focus. They edged their way back into contention with a Renata penalty, closing the gap to 6 points.
Next came a period of play that showed the strength of the 2010 Waikato ITM Cup team. Auckland, who came into the game conceding the least number of tries in the competition held their line strongly. But the Mighty Mooloo men kept possession, hammering away at the stoic Auckland defence.
It wasn’t until the 82nd minute where Waikato repeated their heroics of the regular season, Hikairo Forbes scoring near the posts after a great period of old fashioned forward pick and drives! With the score at 35-36 the pressure was on Trent Renata to convert, which he nailed for a 37-36 win!
First Half:
Half time score: 18 - 17
Tries: Sosene Anesi, Dominiko Waqaniburotu
Conversions: Renata
Penalty: Renata (2)
Second Half:
Full time score: 38 - 37
Tries: Romana Graham, Henry Speight, Hikario Forbes
Conversions: Renata
Penalty: Renata
The Waikato team who played Auckland was:
1. Toby Smith
2. Aled de Malmanche
3. Nathan White (captain)
4. Toby Lynn
5. Romana Graham
6. Dominiko Waqaniburotu
7. Jack Lam
8. Alex Bradley
9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
10. Trent Renata
11. Dwayne Sweeney
12. Jackson Willison
13. Save Tokula
14. Henry Speight
15. Sosene Anesi
Reserves:
16. Hikairo Forbes
17. Ben May
18. Kent Fife
19. Zak Hohneck
20. Malcolm Barnes
21. Christian Lealiifano
22. Tim Mikkelson
