Miller in element as Sivivatu scythes through Auckland

By WYNNE GRAY

Whether the absence of never-on-a-Sunday fullback Todd Miller cost Waikato their shot at the Ranfurly Shield will long be debated.

But there should be no dispute about his impact on Saturday, when Waikato embarrassed traditional rivals Auckland 59-11 on the back of five tries from crackerjack wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Closing on 30, Miller was one of the older players in the derby, but mixed his experience with all the verve and nous missing from the feeble Auckland offering.

Miller is retiring from all rugby at the end of this season, his body still gallant but unable to take the consistent practice required from those who indulge in professional rugby.

"I'm just knackered, I don't get the joy out of training any more, but if I could just turn up on Saturdays and play that would be fun," he said.

"It is the Monday-to-Friday stuff that is tough. But if that's the last game I ever have against Auckland, what a way to finish.

"Obviously there is a little bit of payback from last week [against Bay of Plenty] because everyone was disappointed in that, and this was a really good performance.

"We didn't make many mistakes. We figured out what we should do and we stuck with it and it worked."

Miller has seen a bunch of top wings in his long career and it takes a lot to impress him. However, he rates Sivivatu up with the best.

Not bad, coach John Mitchell wryly observed, for a bloke favouring a tight hamstring to equal the individual record for tries in a first-division match.

Sivivatu's changes of pace and power left Auckland's defence in a pitiful state. His influence will have the All Black coaches even more rueful about his ineligibility for the national team until next year.

"Mind you," one senior Waikato rugby man pointedly declared, "we don't operate with a flat backline here."

The depth of the attacking line and the ability of Miller to straighten those assaults were sizeable factors in Sivivatu's success.

"Most of the time I was on the ground and saw him put the ball down, but some of those tries were unbelievable," Miller said. "I was just glad I didn't have to tackle him because he is up there with guys like Rupeni [Caucaunibuca] and Joe Rokocoko. He has got all the skills when it comes to attacking."

Waikato had a halftime margin of 21-6 and the instructions from Mitchell and captain Stephen Bates were to extend that momentum.

"In the end the pressure told and it was an excellent example of teamwork," Mitchell assessed.

Bates, Liam Messam and Scott Couch smeared their loose-forward opponents, Sean Hohneck controlled the lineouts, Deacon Manu and David Briggs nutted out the scrums, and Isaac Boss, David Hill, Keith Lowen and the backline boys showed the benefits of sensible, structured rugby.

"I think we are best when we are direct and I thought our patterns and the speed of the ball were very good today," No 8 Bates said.

The telling time came when Waikato held out Auckland's best attacks for 10 minutes and conceded only a penalty.

"I just got the guys together then because I thought that was a fantastic effort. Things like that help out in big games," Bates said.

Bates himself was in full flow against his old province. Try-saving tackles, crunching runs from the scrum and plenty of endeavour matched the final foray when he cantered over for Waikato's eighth try.

The records went to Waikato and the individual compliments to Sivivatu, while Auckland created a new low for embarrassment as they sank to their greatest defeat in their celebrated history.

They were inept at set-piece, second-phase, running, kicking, passing and tackling. A combination of rookie coaches, revolving selections and self-centred players is a formula for disaster against such a concerted group as Waikato.

It was welcome to the real world for stunned coach Pat Lam. At least he admitted his side "lost all areas of the game" to an outstanding Waikato team who had given them a "good old-fashioned hiding".

Auckland's turmoil will produce wry looks from the rest of the country and questions about player depth in the region. There will be no guarantees the return of any All Blacks this weekend will lead to a turnaround.

Returning test squad No 8 Mose Tuiali'i was ineffective while Keven Mealamu came on at halftime for his 50th provincial cap, hurt his left knee and was sinbinned. Lock Ali Williams should be grateful for the headaches which caused his late withdrawal from the match.

Mitchell suggested that victory against the old enemy was something Waikato rugby diehards had waited all year. It was very important for the region's rugby psyche.

"The challenge for us is to get back up and repeat our performance [against Wellington on Friday night]."