Canterbury celebrates opening victory in ITM Cup against Auckland - Rugby News
Canterbury has clinched an opening victory in the ongoing ITM Cup 2011 against Auckland by 40-33, in Auckland on Sunday, July 17. The visiting side scored three tries in the match to start their ITM Cup 2011 campaign with a success. The Canterbury team chased
well but in the end the local side proved too strong for them. Tom Taylor was the man who led his team to an astonishing victory with 20 individual points.
Auckland went onto the field very comfortably with depth in their forwards pack and started their march to victory. They took an early lead over the Canterbury side with the help of Gareth Anscomb and Charles Piutau. Anscombe guided three penalty shots into
the goals of Canterbury in the first-half which later rose to four during the second-half of the match. Furthermore, he scored on three conversions for his team.
The Auckland side scored three penalties in the game, including a penalty try. Mathewson and Auva’a helped Auckland with a promising start but in the end the result belonged to the Canterbury side.
The competition ended with an aggressive comeback by the Canterbury side. O'Connor, Crotty, McNicholl and Heinz scored one try each for their team, whereas the rest of the work belonged to Tom Taylor, who scored 20 points for his side.
The following players lined up against each other on game day:
Auckland: 15 Brent Ward, 14 Francis Saili, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Chris Lowrey, 7 Daniel Braid (c), 6 Onosa'i Auva', 5 Josh Townsend, 4 Steven Luatua, 3 Charlie Faumuina,
2 Tom McCartney, 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Angus Ta'avao, 18 Richard Haddon/Nathan Hughes, 19 Sean Polwart, 20 Auvasa Faleali'i, 21 Piers Francis, 22 Joe Rokocoko, 23 Tevita Mailau.
Canterbury: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Tom Taylor, 11 Patrick Osbourne, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Ash Parker (c), 5 Luke Romano, 4 Luke Katene, 3 Andrew Olorenshaw, 2
Paul Ngauamo, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Steve Fualau, 17 Paea Fa'anunu, 18 Reuben Thorne, 19 Luke Whitelock, 20 Mark Swanepoel, 21 Kolio Hifo, 22 Robbie Fruean, 23 Sam Cottom.
Tags: