Well, having had all of two hours to recover from the trauma of seeing my beloved Red and Blacks go down 29-23 to an impressive Waikato side I guess it's time to put down my thoughts on the game. I figure we (and I speak for all Cantabrians) are bound to cop some flak for the failure of our boys to bring the Log-o-wood back to Chch, so I might as well get in first!
Firstly I would like to congratulate the Waikato forward pack on a truely impressive performance, particularly on defence. They successfully snaffled posession away from Canterbury on far too many occasions, and their defence in the last 5 minutes of the first half (when Canterbury where camped in referees corner on the Waikato tryline) is the stuff of legend. I know everyone in our lounge was urging the Cantab pack on during that period of play, but they still held us out. On the strength of that defensive effort alone they deserved to be up 16-6 at half time.
If you had read my preview of the game you would know that I thought that the area that Canterbury might have the edge was in the forwards, but it wasn't to be. Royce Willis and Richard Coventry played like a couple of extra loosies (and bloody big ones at that!), especially on defense. For much of the game the Canterbury team where struggling to get across the advantage line.
In statistical terms the game was probably quite even (I don't have the numbers on hand) and Canterbury did play well in spells. Maybe if there was another 10 minutes to go after Marshall scored his try (which brought them within 6 points) we could have burgled it, but really they were just out muscled for too much of the game to really take control.
As I also mention in my preview the Waikato back three were going to be a factor if their forward pack could win enough ball and unfortunately they were. Both Randell and Miller crossed for tries on the end of some good continuity from their forwards. Rhys Duggan also had a good game, the fresh-faced young halfback (I'm sure he could pass for a 15 year old!) was in the right place at the wrong time (from a R&B POV!) to score his two opportunist tries.
The late fightback from the Cantabs left the highly vocal crowd in our living room feeling much better about the game, but it was still a painful loss. It really makes the semi-final run that much tougher for the boys, as it is likely that they will finish third on the table, with Otago sneaking by into the second spot.
The Cantabs last regular season game is at Jade Stadium next week against the much improved Counties (it's amazing what difference 230+ kg of prime winger beef can make to a team!). I hope we get to see Afato darting between Jonah's legs to score in the corner rather than Jonah swatting Afato into the terraces when he tries to stop the runaway Lomu freight train!
JC
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I can't believe it!!! I thought we could rely on Paddy for at least one penalty try. That's all we would have needed. He obviously didn't take my threat seriously about releasing those pictures to the press. If you thought Carlos's goat fetish was bad wait until you see these!
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