Rugby: Stag pair take charge of ship

Air NZ Cup
Tasman 0
Southland 41

Tasman had another reason to curse the grey hand of the New Zealand Rugby Union yesterday - and not just the restructuring of the Air NZ Cup which has Tasman as one of the favourites for the chop.

No, if the NZRU did lean on All Black Jimmy Cowan and, maybe to a lesser extent prop Jamie Mackintosh, they may have done Tasman no favours again. Those two set the stage for a convincing Southland win, with first five-eighths Robbie Robinson shining brightly in the second half.

If Cowan had gone to the Blues and Mackintosh to the Hurricanes - as reports suggested - they may not have had quite such an effect on yesterday's match. If the two Southland and Highlanders stars had been leaving, it could have been far more of a distraction but, with the subject of their potential shift settled, both All Blacks took a firm grip on the Southland rudder and steered the ship straight; very straight.

Mackintosh anchored the scrum and figured well in the pick-and-charge stuff around the rucks and mauls.

Cowan directed traffic, popped up his effective box and ground-gaining kicks and was there after a concerted period of Stags pressure to slip over the line around a ruck for the only scoring movement of the first half.

Southland are in a must-win sequence, needing victories against Tasman, Taranaki and maybe even Canterbury if they are to be guaranteed a semifinal spot and certainly a home semi. So they did what all good Southland sides do when the heat is on: they jutted out their chins, took a leaf out of the Good Old-Fashioned Rugby Manual - and drove it straight and hard and up the middle.

They hung on to the ball as if it was next season's crop of Bluff oysters, recycling it well, and squeezed the life out of the Makos who showed signs of wilting without ball and camped in their own territory for long periods.

Problem was, the Stags found it difficult to score until Robinson's emergence in the second half. The backline didn't quite fire and, with Tasman trying to run the ball wide on the rare occasions they had it and send the Stags chasing around the field, the mistakes flowed freely.

They started the second half as they had to - when Robinson threw a try-making pass close to the line and slippery fullback Glen Horton scored after Jason Kawau's pass split Tasman.

The Makos wriggled and struggled but they couldn't get off the hook and Horton's second try came when Mackintosh and Kenny Lynn chimed in with some slick passing in a tight, blindside raid. Horton's run was timed perfectly to tiptoe along the sideline and past the defence.

That was that. Tasman were never going to come back from 17-0 down with Mackintosh, big lock Josh Bekhuis, tough flanker John Hardie, Cowan, Robinson and Horton holding sway.

Some pundits have Robinson down as a possibility for the All Black end of year tour - and so he is. It might be too early yet but he has genuine speed, a good kicking game and he is an inventive player; always thinking.

He can double at fullback and one piece of skill - where he kick-passed a rolling ball perfectly into the arms of a team-mate - underlined that he just might have the x-factor worth a look on tour.

Southland's vital bonus-point try was another case in point. Cowan threw a wobbly old pass while Southland were on attack. Robinson had to run back to fetch it but had the class player's quality of time to spare as he sized up the Tasman defenders coming at him.

It looked as if he had no option but to take the tackle - but he squeezed a low kick through; timed so perfectly that Kawau just had to gather to score. It was the creativity of a player with vision, timing and execution.

Southland were enjoying themselves now and Hardie scored before Robinson and Lynn created Horton's hat-trick try.

This was the biggest away win of the competition so far, apart from Wellington's 62-19 drubbing of Counties-Manukau. It remains to be seen if the Stags go on with it - but they did themselves a power of good with this win.

Tasman 0, Southland 41 (J. Cowan, G. Horton 3, J. Kawau, J. Hardie, J. Rutledge tries; R. Robinson 3 cons). Halftime: 7-0.