Corey Kellow scores for Canterbury. Photo:
Someone's 0 had to go in the battle of unbeaten Canterbury and Hawke's Bay on Friday in Napier, with the red and blacks prevailing 26-7.
While it only took Canterbury eight minutes to score the game's first try, with Corey Kellow crashing over off a perfect Willie Away from a five metre lineout, the game quickly descended into long periods of the ball never really making it any further than either side's 22.
As much as the defence was solid, the situation wasn't helped by a real lack of intention on attack and some aimless kicking. Canterbury managed to get their act together long enough for Manasa Mataele to go over in the corner and make the score 12-0 at halftime, but on the whole the first 40 minutes won't go down in history as one of the great halves of rugby.
The second got a little better, as both teams had good possession close to each other's lines, but handling errors and penalties kept killing their momentum. Hawke's Bay flanker Miracle Faiilagi, who starred this season for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific, finally took some initiative and busted into the Canterbury 22. That eventually set up an attacking lineout, with Faiilagi on hand to get in the back of the drive and dive over.
Chay Fihaki sparked easily the most impressive moment of the match when he broke out of his 22 and Canterbury almost scored the try of the season after several offloads down the wing. It was thwarted by some desperate Hawke's Bay defence, but then moments later Fihaki scored probably the easiest try he'll get all season when the home side butchered their own defensive lineout and the ball dribbled into the winger's hands to slide over.
That moment sucked the life out of Hawke's Bay, whose defence disappeared shortly after to allow Johnny McNicholl to score again. From then on it was just a case of winding down the clock before Canterbury could head off the field, probably already thinking about their date at home with Manawatu next weekend.
Hawke's Bay will be certainly hoping for a much more enthusiastic performance when they head to Whangarei to take on Northland.
Read how the game unfolded here:
