Mitre 10 Cup: Magpies mulched again

Magpies halfback Brad Weber again was a handful. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby team coach Craig Philpott rued his team's inability to win the physical battle as they slumped to their third consecutive loss last night.

"It was really poor. I'm really disappointed. We lost the physical battle at the breakdown, we lost it at the contact area and this put pressure on our ball," Philpott said after his troops were walloped 48-20 by the Counties-Manukau Steelers in front of 4000 spectators at Napier's McLean Park.

"We weren't able to slow their ball down. While they had bigger athletes, it also had a little bit to do with attitude," Philpott said.

When asked if a repair job was possible before the hosting of Auckland on Wednesday night, Philpott replied:

"Time will tell."

He admitted the fact so many of his players were late returning from Super Rugby duties and were struggling to adapt to the new rules was a factor.

The Steelers led 22-13 at halftime. The Magpies were guilty of not treasuring possession and, unlike the Steelers, didn't capitalise on all of their scoring situations. They were unlucky to be denied a try in the 33rd minute to No8 Fa'alemiga Selesele.

He appeared to have grounded the ball but television match official Bruce Dockary ruled he had lost it forward. The Magpies then had seven minutes of dominance until halftime, but their only reward was a penalty to first five-eighth Ihaia West.

The start of the third quarter saw a continuation of poor ball retention and errors from the Magpies, which gifted the Steelers more possession.

Breakdown errors, set piece errors and kick off errors ... it was a smorgasbord of mistakes.

This allowed the Steelers to keep the scoreboard ticking over with first five-eighth Piers Francis slotting multiple penalties.

From the 52nd minute, the Magpies trailed 31-13 and were in catch-up mode as was the case in their previous two encounters. This continued for the entire third quarter.

The Magpies' biggest fear going into the game, their inability to drop the Steelers' big ball carriers, eventuated. The visitors were able to gain metres with ease at key times.

Just as was the case against Wellington and Taranaki, they didn't throw in the towel.

There was a glimmer of hope of another bonus point at least when fullback Ryan Tongia scored in the 66th minute and West added the conversion.

However that hope was shortlived as another handling error from the Magpies was punished when classy flanker Jordan Taufua scored his second try in the 70th minute and Francis again added the extras.

While few of the Magpies stood out, there was no shortage of heroes in the Steelers team.

Halfback and captain Augustine Pulu was the player-of-the-match.

Taufua was the best forward on the park and Francis succeeded with eight of his nine attempts at goal to finish with a 23-point haul.

Counties-Manukau 48 (Jordan Taufua 2, Sam Vaka, Luteru Laulala, Sione Fifita tries; Piers Francis 4 cons, dropped goal, 4 pens) Hawke's Bay 20 (Robbie Fruean, Ryan Tongia tries; Ihaia West 2 pens, 2 cons). HT: 22-13.

Match highlights:

Heartstopper: Referee Nick Briant's dangerous play call on Magpies wing Robbie Fruean in the 16th minute when there was nothing in it.
Turning point: Magpies No8 Fa'alemiga Selesele's inability to score in the 33rd minute when he was ruled to have lost the ball forward under the posts. Had it been awarded the Magpies would have got within five points. They never got that close again in the remaining minutes.
Player of the match: Steelers halfback and captain Augustine Pulu. Superb control and option taking.