Taranaki hold firm against Manawatu

Manawatu notched their first premier provincial rugby point and came within a whisker of snatching victory before losing 12-18 to Taranaki in Palmerston North today.

In dogged battle of two winless teams in pool A of the Air New Zealand Cup, Manawatu made much of the running in the last 10 minutes at FMG Stadium but couldn't conjure the try needed to overhaul Taranaki.

Regarded universally as the minnows of the 14-team competition, Manawatu showed a marked improvement on last week's 0-43 drubbing the hands of Tasman.

Reserve hooker Nathan Kemp barged over for their second try with 14 minutes remaining, setting up a tension-filled finish.

Taranaki held firm to pick up their first win in four games, having opened the season with losses to highly rated opponents Wellington, North Harbour and Auckland.

They were expected to easily account for the hosts today and, while controlling the bulk of possession and territory, were let down by basic mistakes.

Victory was set up by a composed first half. Playing into a stiff wind, they took a 12-7 lead through two tries.

The first was a flukey one in the second minute to hooker Laurence Corlett, who charged down a slow clearing punt by Manawatu first five-eighth Ryan Bambry and scampered 40m to score.

Bambry missed a penalty attempt soon afterwards but made up for his slow start with a slick break which led to lock Hayden Trigg's try in response.

The visitors then clamped control with a superior scrum and Manawatu started to fall off tackles.

After a host of near-misses, veteran halfback Brendan Haami scored from a neat blindside move.

Two penalties from Taranaki first five-eighth Miah Nikora inside the first 15min of the second half carried his team clear before Kemp busted over.

Manawatu play Bay of Plenty in Rotorua next weekend while Taranaki host Tasman in New Plymouth.

- NZPA