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Penalty boot on other foot |
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Written by Craig Tiriana
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Monday, 11 September 2006 |
ANTHONY Tahana admits he didn't know if he scored.
Bay of Plenty coach Andre Bell didn't think it looked too good as his diving winger was tackled in the corner by Taranaki's cover defence during Saturday night's slushy Air New Zealand Cup game in Tauranga.
Tahana had made a dash of about 28m to the line after latching on to a loose Brendan Haami clearance kick. The New Zealand Maori representative made great ground but was collared in a desperate two-man tackle which saw a collection of arms, legs and torsos in a three-way collision with the corner flag.
After much deliberation the try was awarded, referee Kelvin Deaker taking on advice from touch judge Ash Lee and video official Kane McBride before warming the faithful Steamers' fans at Blue Chip Stadium with his whistle.
``We'll take it,'' was the united response of Tahana and Bell following the Steamers' 20-16 victory. The home side led 14-13 at the break.
Both Tahana and Bell had a glint in their eyes and a fair bit of ``about time'' in their voices with the Bay not delivered any favours by the video referees this season.
Replays showed the Tahana try was a questionable decision but what was undeniable was the improvement in discipline by the Steamers.
An old fashioned early morning thrashing at the hands of the coaching staff last Sunday in Blenheim helped sow the seeds of improvement and renewed focus following the scratchy Tasman win.
The Steamers went into Saturday's game with the aim of keeping penalties conceded to less than 10, which they achieved.
``We've been pretty conscious of that [penalties],'' said Tahana. ``I think we've been letting them in too easy, we've learnt our lessons hopefully, to just leave the ball alone and back our D [defence].''
Instead it was Taranaki who were guilty of committing basic indiscretions under pressure and Steamers No 10 Mike Delany made them pay, knocking over five penalties while missing two other long range efforts.
Delany's points, which took him past 50 for the season, were big reward for the hard work of the Bay forward pack who competed strongly and shaded the visitors.
Heavy rain had saturated the field and by halftime quite a few areas had turned into muddy patches which made handling difficult and wide ranging rugby unlikely.
Tahana said they were probably the worst conditions he could remember for some time and after a week of training in the dry the team were forced to change tactics.
``It was a big tussle up front and the boys earned our money tonight,'' said Tahana.
``There was a bit of awful kicking out there by both sides so set pieces were pretty important, it's always a tough battle with them [Taranaki]. For the last couple of years I think it's only been won by one point.''
Bell said he was impressed with the standard of football by both teams given the horrid conditions.
It was the Bay's third successive win which earns them an important two home games during the upcoming repechage stage.
The top two sides from this stage will rejoin Auckland, Wellington, North Harbour, Waikato, Canterbury and Otago for the competition quarter-finals.
Four weeks ago the Bay weren't looking too likely as they dropped three games on the trot but victories against Manawatu, Tasman and now Taranaki have them in a pretty confident frame.
``The morale in the team with three losses in a row was a bit down but now heads are up a bit higher, showing more confidence and starting to believe in what we're trying to do,'' Bell said.
``We probably haven't played our best rugby yet, which is good. We've got a lot to work on and a lot to improve on.''
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