Waikato top Auckland in thriller
27th August 2011 08:33PM
Afternoon rugby returned to Waikato Stadium in Hamilton as Waikato triumphed in a heart-stopping encounter against Auckland 26-19 in the final ITM Cup regular season game today.
When both teams meet there are never dull games as recent years suggest. For Waikato, they needed a bonus point win to have any hope of playing or even hosting the final and looked the great early on with ball in hand.
The day's first points came through the boot of young Auckland first five Gareth Anscombe.
Waikato struck back immediately when All Black and Waikato loose forward Liam Messam made the initial linebreak to set up Save Tokula before giving a lovely pass to allow Trent Renata to go in for the try.
Anscombe closed the gap again with another penalty to make it 7-6 after 12 minutes of play.
However, the Mooloo's hit back again when their second try came of some precision passing between forwards and backs saw midfielder Jackson Willison touchdown near the posts.
Renata took over the kicking duties from veteran Stephen Donald and slotted the extra points for a 14-6 lead.
Auckland were kept in the game by their star in Anscombe as he nailed another penalty with halftime approaching.
Referee Keith Brown brought an end to the half with Waikato looking hot on attack only for a handling error by Messam ending the play. The error was the only blemish after a relatively strong first-half performance by the loose forward.
At halftime Waikato took a 14-9 advantage into the sheds with Liam Messam a real standout having a hand in both of his sides tries.
Waikato got off to an electric start in the second half on the back a scintillating run down the sideline by winger Henry Speight.
Soon after the home-side were controversially reduced to 14 men when Donald was sent to the sin-bin on the back a touchline report for supposed over use of rucking.
The big city neighbours capitalised when winger George Moala broke through some soft defence as they regained the lead with the conversion to make the scores 16-14.
Anscombe knocked over his fourth penalty to extend Auckland's lead to five.
Waikato had looked to have scored an almost certain try when Number 8 Alex Bradley only for the TMO to rule that he had knocked the ball on when going to ground.
The Mooloo men looked to have Auckland against the wall only to squander a certain five-pointer when wing Tim Mikkelson uncharacteristically dropped a pass that would have put him in the corner.
Minutes later, Donald atoned for his earlier sin-binning when be barged through the Auckland defence to put the Mooloo's back in front as Renata easily kicked the extras for a 21-19 lead
Donald's try meant Waikato were in search of the crucial four-try bonus point which could possibly determine whether the Mooloos would host the ITM Cup final.
The vocal Waikato crowd of 5500 were on the edge of their seats as another scoring opportunity went begging as the handling error count continued to rise for the Mooloo men.
With 80 minutes gone a nail-biting finish saw Waikato with one last opportunity for the fourth try.
It wasn't until the 83rd minute, on the back of a turnover Messam scooped up the loose ball to race 40 metre before linking with Donald who sealed the deal and sent the crowd into an uproar.
Bath-bound Donald scored his second try and secured the vital bonus point as referee Brown signalled fulltime with the Mooloo men victorious 26-19.
Waikato will now await further results in the weekend but look certain to play in the ITM Cup Premiership final.
Score Summary
Waikato: 26 (Renata, Willison, Donald 2 Tries, Donald Con, Renata 2 Con)
Auckland: 19 (Moala Try, Anscombe 4 Pen, Anscombe Con)
Halftime: 14-9 Waikato
Reserves
16 Vance Elliot
17 Ben May on for Smith in the 53rd min
18 Matt Vant Leven on for Lynn in the 56th min
19 Zak Hohneck on for Holah in the 70th min
20 Brendon Leonard on for Kerr-Barlow in the 70th min
21 Sam Christie on for Tokula in the 35th min
22 Declan O'Donnell on for Speight in the 72nd min
23 Ted Tauroa
