Southland thumps Counties Manukau by 22-14 in fifth round of ITM Cup - Rugby News
Southland has thrashed the Counties Manukau by 22-14 in the fifth round of the ITM Cup 2011, on July 29, in Rugby Park Stadium. Jayden Wilson was impressive with his boot and scored 17 individual points for Southland. He kicked five penalties and one conversion
into Counties’ goals. Both sides scored one try each in the match. However, Counties players conceded too many fouls and handed over easy chances to the Southlanders for three pointers.
The Counties players were successful in putting early pressure on the Southland side and got an opportunity to take the lead but Fatialofa missed it by a huge distance. Counties Manukau availed the third opportunity with the help of Lavea and made the score
3-0. Tuifua levelled the score a couple of minutes later as he opened the account for Southland. Both sides were struggling with the slippery conditions of Rugby Park and missed too many chances to score early points in the first-half.
Counties were again ahead of Southland in the 22nd minute of the match as Lavea kicked the second three pointer for his team. It was the time for Jayden Wilson to show some aggression in the match as he kicked the first plenty shot for his team
in the 32nd minute of the match and then kept on repeating the tactic several times.
The Southlanders extended their lead to 13-6 at the half as Bekhuis scored the first try of the match in the 38th minute of the match.
The rest of the show belonged to Jayden Wilson as he led the Southlanders to an ideal conclusion with well measured kicks. The Counties Manukau failed to react in the second-half and concluded the game by being way behind the Southlanders.
Talking to reporters after the match, the Southland skipper, Jamie Mackintosh, praised Wilson and said that, “We tried to run the ball and wanted to run the ball but with conditions like this sometimes you’re better off not having it and putting pressure
on with good kicks .We started off pretty rusty and then I think before half-time we got a bit of ascendance.”
Southland has now won two games after four outgoings in the tournament.
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