Canterbury at a canter, but still not satisfied

By CHRIS RATTUE

Canterbury 42 Counties M 17

It might have been stating the obvious, but Counties Manukau coach Andrew Talaimanu had no hesitation in ranking Canterbury as outright NPC favourites.

On the face of it, Canterbury's overwhelming victory over the Steelers at Pukekohe provided the evidence to back up Talaimanu's claim.

Yet on performance, this was not Canterbury at their best, and coach Steve Hansen's assessment was on the mark: "It was pretty scratchy ... not a win that we will be overly proud of.

"But we still scored 42 points and you take the win and move on. There's no point in dwelling on it too much."

The match might have left Canterbury with some bad news. Andrew Mehrtens left the field in the second half clutching what appeared to be a painful chest injury, and given the sort of year he has had so far, it would be no surprise to see the All Black pivot sidelined again.

Canterbury hope to know more about the injury today.

The visitors appeared to be taking Counties Manukau lightly in the first quarter, spreading the ball across the field without doing too much driving through the middle, although the Canterbury scrum destroyed their opponents on a couple of occasions.

With Danny Lee and Loki Crichton impressive in the halves, the home side kept finding little holes in the Canterbury defence and they trailed only 16-14 at halftime.

Counties Manukau took an early second-half lead after Crichton intercepted a Canterbury pass to prevent a try, launched a counter-attack, and then kicked the resulting penalty.

But Canterbury quickly pulled away, with the introduction of Todd Blackadder, Matt Mustchin and Marika Vunibaka helping them to put the Steelers away.

Blackadder, in what might be his last game in New Zealand outside of Christchurch, came on in the 54th minute to a rousing reception from the crowd of 3200. It's not just die-hard Cantabrians who have appreciated the former All Black captain's efforts and demeanour.

There were some unfamiliar sights at Pukekohe Stadium, as there have been around the world in recent days. The match began with a pick-up truck carrying American flags circling the ground, and then a minute's silence for those who died in the tragedies.

But what followed, as Canterbury beat back Counties Manukau's efforts, was hardly a surprise, although they will want to step up a gear in the Ranfurly Shield defence against Wellington on Saturday.

Talaimanu said: "Canterbury's tight five is so strong, as is their support play. They are definitely the best team we've played this year. They really picked their game up in the last 20 minutes ... it's a sign of a good side."