Taranaki battle past Waikato in second round of ITM Cup - Rugby News
Taranaki claimed an upset victory against the much stronger side of Waikato in the second round of the ongoing ITM Cup 2011. Taranaki overcame the favourites by 30-23 in Hamilton, on July 21. The dark horses forced their rivals to submit despite trailing
after the end of first-half. They were behind the Waikato’s by 14-5 at the interval but amazingly bounced back in the game during the second-half and claimed a much needed victory in the inter-provincial championship.
Earlier, Taranaki had started off their ITM Cup journey in poor fashion and lost their initial game to Wellington by 5-23. Taranaki was feared to continue with the shaky performance due to a number of injuries to their players but surprised the critics with
a brilliant comeback.
Waikato dominated Taranaki in the very first minute of the match and took an early lead over the visitors. Waikato scored two tries within 13 minutes of play with the help of Toby Smith and Stephen Donald. Waikato increased their lead to 14-0 with 10 minutes
to go in the break as Tawera Kerr-Barlow kicked a successful penalty shot but missed another chance a few minutes later.
Taranaki were struggling to handle the ball and the possession equation was favouring Waikato. Taranaki remained quiet in the game until Ander Taylor scored a five-pointer for his side, however, Waikato ended the first-half well ahead of Taranaki with 14-5.
The second part of the game belonged to Taranaki as they added 25 more points to their total to claim the first victory of the event. Jayden Hayward, Chris Walker and Blade Thomson elevated their side with one try each and Andre Taylor contributed 10 individual
points for his team.
Taranaki coach, Colin Cooper, was delighted with his team’s effort and told the media after the match that game plane really worked for them. He said that, “We've got a game plan and we didn't follow that plan against Wellington. We're looking for more clarity
and understanding of that game plan. We put that down to being rusty, so we're expecting another lift from the Wellington game.”
Taranaki will take on Northland in their next clash of ITM Cup on July 27.
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