KEY POINTS:
The upsets just keep on coming in the national championship, with Miah Nikora kicking a last gasp drop goal to give Tasman an unlikely victory over Waikato in Hamilton last night.
Tasman may be doomed to extinction but they had more life than a Waikato side that doesn't
even qualify as a shadow of the team that won the championship two years ago.
If any more evidence was needed to support the reality that the levelling out of the national championship has been a case of the better teams being dragged down to the lowest common denominator, this match was it.
Both sides were utterly average.
Tasman enjoyed the benefit of a superior scrum, more possession and a healthy territorial advantage.
Until the final hooter and Nikora's sweetly struck drop goal, they appeared utterly clueless as how to best utilise those advantages.
Ponderous would be a kind way of describing their stilted approach.
That said, they still won.
Waikato, champions two years ago on the back of a scintillating, breathless brand of rugby, appear to have been asphyxiated by the player drain from their region and increasing All Blacks commitments.
They scored a cracking try to open the second half, which had looked enough to earn them their first win.
But that try was a mirage in what was otherwise a desert of rugby ambition.
Waikato set the tone for a turgid first half with four handling errors inside the first ten minutes and a pull-hooked shot at goal from Callum Bruce from a handy position.
Having been invited into the game in the most chartitable fashion, Tasman accepted their hosts' generosity in the 12th minute when second five-eighths Joel Iggo finished a neat midfield break.
Waikato finally got on the board in the 24th minute through a Bruce penalty.
Two more Bruce penalty goals and were cancelled out by two from Tasman first five-eighths Nikora as the visitors went to the break leading 13-9.
Waikato eventually rumbled into life two minutes into the second half as openside flanker Tom harding finished off a long-range try that began with winger Tim Mikkelson breaking from deep inside his own half.
Centre Roimata Hansel-Pune provided the support and timed his pass to Harding perfectly.
Bruce's failed conversion attempt left Waikato leading by a point and Tasman should have retaken the lead when Nikora missed with a simple penalty attempt.
Nikora missed again as the clock ticked down and Waikato looked to have done enough to scratch out their first victory of the season.
But then came Nikora's 30m drop goal and with it more scenes of jubilation from a team of underdogs.
Tasman 16 (Joel Iggo try; Miah Nikora 2 pen, dropped goal, con)
Waikato 14 (Tom Harding try; Callum Bruce 3 pen). HT: 13-9.
