Rugby: Semis advantage to Tauranga

Mount Maunganui winger Mason Walker was one positive in the loss to Tauranga Sports on Saturday. Photo / Andrew Warner

Tauranga Sports gained a major psychological advantage over Mount Maunganui Sports ahead of this weekend's semifinals with a comprehensive 24-3 win at the Tauranga Domain on Saturday.

In an ironic twist, both teams will face each other in one semifinal back at the Domain, with top seed Te Puke Sports hosting Whakarewarewa.

Tauranga barely raised a sweat in scoring three tries to none. Even having two players sent to the sin bin at various stages of the game did not help the Mounties' cause.

The first yellow card issued by excellent referee Jamie Bell could well have been red if he had seen the multiple punches landed by Jesse Acton that Joseph Parker would have been proud of.

But Tauranga were good value for the win and the hard work put in during the week on the set pieces was rewarded, after Te Puke exposed them badly last round.

Captain Carl Axtens, who led the team out in his 50th game, was pleased with the improved performance from his forward pack.

"We did well to come back after what happened last week. We need to work on the little details this week," he said.

The game overall struggled to match the superb conditions at the Domain with far too many unforced errors at this late stage of the season.

The individual highlight was a slashing 50-metre break by Tauranga's attacking genius Nick Evemy, which ripped open the Mount's blindside defence and led to a key try to Lewis Hancock.

Tauranga's John Dodd did not miss from the kicking tee and shaded his opposite Pera Gibbs in the clash of the two highly competent first fives.

It was good to see Highlanders and Bay of Plenty prop Pingi Tala'apitagi play 80 minutes for Tauranga (at lock) and he looks fit and raring to go for another ITM Cup campaign.

Mount Maunganui need somehow to find the attacking flair that took them to the title last year. Getting the ball to Mason Walker and Danny Kayes would be a good start.

Tauranga Sports 24 (Lewis Hancock, Jason Harvey, Hamish Gosling tries; John Dodd 3 cons, pen) Mount Maunganui Sports 3 (Pera Gibbs pen) HT 17-3