Taranaki 29 Tasman 17
KEY POINTS:
First round blues, perhaps. Let's hope so.
Taranaki's win over Tasman was a case of a sporting contest in which it was unfortunate that someone had to win. Suffice to say that the night's most prevalent and promising tactic was the fly-kick.
The Yarrow Stadium clash started unfortunately
with a poor video refereeing call from Lyndon Bray, and didn't get any better.
Taranaki, without doubt, deserved to lose the least.
They made exceedingly hard work of this victory though, with a plodding performance in the attacking half of the field.
Bray's decision set the game off on a bad foot, and rubbed out its most brilliant moment.
Taranaki's left side attack was completed with a fantastic cut out pass from Mathew Harvey to wing Paul Perez, who tumbled over the line, clipping the flag with his foot on the way.
Under proposed rule changes, the flag wouldn't have been there to wreck the moment anyway, and Bray should also have got out of the way.
Most neutrals would have decided that Perez planted the ball a nanosecond before the flag intervened. Somehow, Bray decided it was simultaneous contact and referee Jonathon White signalled no try.
Rugby could do with giving the benefit of the doubt to the tryscorer in these situations. In this case though, it was simply a poor decision.
Bray is not an officious official when he's out in the middle, which made the decision all the more strange.
The only other bright moments worth recording from 80 minutes of shambolic tedium included Taranaki fullback Scott Ireland's weaving run for the game-sealing try against a defence that appeared to already be on the plane home, Taranaki's earlier try to Shayne Austin, and a consolation score to Tasman wing Kade Poki on his debut.
Tasman first five-eighth Tim Taylor's first half try, when he scuttled between a couple of Taranaki forwards to give his side a 10-6 advantage, was another rare delight in this fodder.
It gave the visitors some moments of hope but Taranaki would have been furious if they had lost. Tasman were always on the back foot though, with a wobbly scrum that was actually a triumph for mankind compared to their lineout.
Coaches Kieran Crowley and Dennis Brown have plenty to work on but on last night's evidence, not much to work with.
Taranaki 29 (S. Austin, S. Ireland tries; K. Morath 5 pen, 2 con) Tasman 17 (T. Taylor, K. Poki tries; Taylor pen, con, J. Foote con). Halftime: 16-10.