Southland hold on for third win

Southland avoided a repeat of their Waikato heartbreak, holding off a desperate late charge from Bay of Plenty to record a 19-13 NPC first division rugby win in Invercargill tonight.

With memories of their narrow injury-time loss to Waikato in round two still fresh, Southland's solid defence held this time to notch their third win of the season.

For 2004 high flyers Bay of Plenty it was their sixth loss from seven this year, leaving them above only winless Northland on the points table.

Southland trailed 6-10 at halftime and only hit the front with 12 minutes remaining with their solitary try, to wing Watisoni Lotawa who regathered a pinpoint Jimmy Cowan kick.

A huge 50m penalty from first five-eighth Richard Apanui three minutes from fulltime sealed the match, although Bay of Plenty mounted one final raid but couldn't drive over from a lineout 5m from the goal line.

Errors proved costly for the home side in a seesawing first half and were to blame for them trailing 6-10 at the break.

Halfback Cowan opened the scoring in the third minute with a dropped goal from a ruck after referee Steve Walsh signalled advantage.

With tryscoring chances rare, Apanui's 30th minute penalty looked likely to give Southland a 6-0 lead at halftime.

But five minutes before the break, Bay of Plenty scored the first try against the run of play.

Southland tried to be too clever from a defensive scrum and Bay of Plenty flanker Nili Latu turned the ball over.

Second five-eighth Rena Schuster burst through a gap and was dragged down 1m short of the line before fullback Adrian Cashmore dived over from the ruck.

Young first five-eighth Mike Delany converted, then added a penalty right on the halftime hooter after Apanui missed touch to give the visitors one final attack.

Apanui closed the gap to 9-10 with his second penalty early in the second half before another defensive blunder handed Bay of Plenty more points.

Wing Illy Delasau tried to run the ball out but was tackled inside his 22m, and Southland were penalised at the ruck to give Delany another penalty goal.

But Southland struck the killer blow in the 68th minute from a ruck 40m out when Cowan lobbed a left foot kick over the rushing Bay defence and Lotawa raced 20m to score with a spectacular dive.

"We do it the hard way don't we?" Southland captain Clarke Dermody said.

"We started well for the first time in a while but let them back in the game and tried to play too much rugby in our own 22m.

"We probably tried a bit much, threw passes which we shouldn't have. We played a bit of territory later on, and it paid off."

- NZPA