A brilliant make-or-break intercept from Canterbury wing Telusa Veainu helped break Tasman hearts in Blenheim last night.
Veainu was the three-try star of the cross division ITM Cup match between the Crusaders comrades. His intercept was the crucial moment in a match in which Tasman robbed themselves with crucial lapsesnear the tryline, in defence and goalkicking.
Trailing 19-3 at the break, the Makos started strongly in the second half and an early Andrew Goodman try cut the deficit to 11 points. They quickly launched another promising attack, before Veainu came flying out of defence to grab a long pass and race 80 metres to the tryline. His third try involved a canter to the line as Tasman's dreadful wide defence was exposed again.
Tasman were in the hunt to draw the match until the 74th minute when Mark Bright scored, but Goodman failed to land the angled conversion leaving his side nine points adrift. Bright scored on fulltime to gain Tasman a second bonus point.
Tasman squandered points in the first half while Canterbury exposed the Makos' poor defensive reads and formations on the flanks. Had Tasman been more clinical, they could easily have won this match. James Marshall dropped the ball over the tryline, Bright did likewise with the line in sight and Goodman missed a sitter of a penalty in the first spell. Canterbury were not so charitable, with wings Patrick Osborne and Veainu tearing Tasman apart.
The first try to Osborne came from a simple backs move. Veainu produced a sensational sideline run and acrobatic dive for the second, and Osborne collected a cross field kick from Tyler Bleyendaal and waltzed past fullback James Marshall for the third. The amount of space given to Osborne in particular indicated the home side was completely lost when it came to organising their defence.
Canterbury 36
Tries: T Veainu (3), P Osborne (2) Con: T Bleyendaal (2), T Taylor (2) Pen: Taylor
