ITM Cup 2011: First week round up - Rugby News
ITM Cup 2011, the largest domestic rugby tournament in New Zealand, kicked off on Thursday July 14, with the opening clash of Otago and North Harbour in Carisbrook Stadium, Dunedin. New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chief executive, Steve Tew, launched the domestic event in person. The first week was full of twists and turns as the teams got off to the a bruising start.
A crowd pleasing competition was seen in the beginning of the tournament as Otago outclassed the North Harbour side by a huge margin of 46-29. Otago dominated their opponents since the first minute of the game and kept mounting the pressure until the end of the match. The Otago players elevated their side with a flying start as they scored six tries in the match.
Otago’s skipper, Ebven Joubert, led his side from the front and scored a couple of tries for his team. The North Harbour side, which had dropped former All Blacks player, Luke McAlister, for this particular match was hammered in the very first match of the competition. Otago are currently placed on top of the points table for their highest margin victory in the opening match.
The second match of the ongoing Cup was played between Southland and Waikato. Waikato managed to secure the opening victory in the championship in a low scoring game as they defeated their opponents by 19-9 in Invercargill. Stephen Donald displayed gave a one man show in the match as he scored19 points all by himself. The Waikato side has been placed third at the point’s tables.
The next match of the competition was played between Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay as Manawatu clinched the victory by 32-23. Smith, Cama, Stone and Gosling helped their side with one try each to get off the mark nicely in the tournament. Manawatu managed to earn a bonus point in the match along with the victory.
The Northland and Tasman match was played on the third day of the tournament and Northland defeated the Tasman team by 19-9. It was quite a sluggish game as both sides failed to put some excitement into the proceedings. Daniel Faleafa, Aaron Bancroft and Lachie Munro scored tries for their side to grab their maiden victory in the tournament.
Taranaki had a bad day against the Wellington side as its players displayed an awful performance in the match. The just managed to score five points in the whole game and Wellington grabbed an easy victory in their first match.
Canterbury and Auckland met on Sunday July 17, in their opening clash of the event and saw out the best competition of the tournament in the matches played so far. Canterbury won the match after an interesting game by 40-33. Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty ended up the first round of ITM Cup on Sunday night with another interesting contest and Bay of Plenty remained successful and ran away with the victory.
The second round of the ITM Cup 2011 will be kicked off on July 19 as North Harbour takes on Tasman.
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