Late surge does trick for Taranaki yet again

By WYNNE GRAY - Taranaki 23 Auckland 20

All the protests about Taranaki being a bogey side for Auckland were swatted away.

That was in the annals, results from a previous era, the coaching staff claimed.

Taranaki might have earned a hat-trick of wins from 1996-98 but those were the days when Auckland were hampered because of the absence of their All Blacks. Those days had disappeared.

Auckland received twin revision lessons about rugby and history on Saturday as Taranaki produced a killer finish at Eden Park.

It was a result to rock Auckland, who were at full strength bar the absence of All Black wing Doug Howlett and the injured Carlos Spencer, and to spur Taranaki forward for their first NPC match at their new stadium this weekend.

With eight minutes left, Taranaki should not have won the game as they trailed 20-9.

But the introduction of substitute Mepi Faoagali was the masterstroke for coach Colin Cooper, who had been preparing his side for a month for this match.

He made huge demands on his squad for their time, especially those who were not fulltime professionals.

But Cooper wanted to build on the plans he started several seasons ago and had accrued this year with the Crusaders; he wanted to create competition for places and impose pressure on opponents.

That involved plenty of preparation, repeating moves and organisation until they became second-nature.

It also involved attacking Auckland at the breakdown, a tactic which created many turnovers and helped stem several promising blue and white raids.

There was work to be done on attack, in getting Taranaki's ballrunners more into the game and developing their confidence.

But Faoagali's late sorcery drew a victory which offered a strong impetus for the season and smacked Auckland's optimism.

The midfielder sent Bryce Robins away for one try and then shrugged and battered his way through some flimsy tackles to pop a great offload for replacement wing Chris Woods to score the winning try.

Round those late surprises, Daryl Lilley goaled five from six kicks while James Arlidge missed three handy penalties which eroded some of Auckland's confidence.

They also butchered several try-scoring chances with sloppy passing.

It was a disease which also infested the visitors ranks in the first half when No 8 Chris Masoe came up just short of the line and Shayne Austin lost an inside pass after a break from James Kerr.

It was a dour opening, Taranaki creating more while Auckland had a strong defence but little in attack other than some midfield bursts from lock Bradley Mika.

As the game went on Auckland got on a slight roll with tries to replacement halfback David Gibson after a huge scrum and centre Eroni Clarke.

"It should have been a comfortable win from that point but we made a couple of mistakes, a couple of turnovers and missed a couple of tackles and the game changed," coach Wayne Pivac said.

Auckland's best were scattered. Kees Meeuws and Keven Mealamu drilled a front row, Bryce Williams was strong in the air, flanker Daniel Braid was busy but the backline was uninspiring.

They made some space but could not finish, a flaw which became so costly when Faoagali delivered his final flurries.

"That's the X-factor he has got," coach Cooper said.

Up front, Taranaki had great resolve from captain Paul Tito and new lock Reece Robinson while their loose forward trio scavenged and tackled relentlessly.

Defeat did not mean the aura round Auckland had disintegrated as much as it had in recent seasons with the All Blacks.

"Auckland are a sleeping giant," Cooper said graciously. Most who went to Eden Park would accept that description without the giant tag.