Rugby: Steelers, North Harbour notch wins

By Chris Rattue

Counties Manukau's preparations for their NPC campaign got off to solid start with a 24-15 win over Northland in a warm-up match at Pukekohe Stadium yesterday.

Steelers coaches Mac McCallion and Andrew Talaimanu fielded a number of newcomers, including former Auckland Colts wing Brad Sau, who had an unfortunate debut when he suffered a leg fracture which may require an operation.

They also lost centre Paul Tom with a hamstring injury, although he is expected to be sidelined for only two to three weeks and will be back in time to be considered for the opening NPC clash at home to Southland on August 15.

Northland had beaten Auckland in Whangarei last week but it was the home side who held all the early advantage yesterday and they were always ahead on the scoreboard.

Northland coach Bryce Woodward used a number of different combinations from the side who pipped Auckland, and brought outside back Jared Going in to first five-eighths.

Going made a couple of breaks but it was his opposite, Blair Feeney, who split the defence open in the second half to create the try which gave the Steelers some safety on the scoreboard, and Counties Manukau also provided the try of the match with a series of tricky passes putting left wing Brent Becroft in for his second try.

The match gave Counties Manukau's Lee Lidgard his first win as captain, but the rugged front-rower also ended up in the sinbin.

McCallion believes that the leadership job will help to steer Lidgard away from some of his on-field discipline problems. But he was binned in the second half by young referee Darren Slee, in a marginal decision, for dangerous play when he charged into a Northland forward at the back of a ruck.

Counties Manukau No 8 Koula Tukino was among the standout performers with some strong open-field running, but his opposite, Tim Henwood, also caught the eye with solid charges in the tight.

Counties Manukau take on King Country at Pukekohe on Wednesday, and at the request of the national selectors they will include four All Blacks who are in need of game-time.

North Harbour, who included six past or present All Blacks, including some current New Zealand A stars, beat second-division Bay of Plenty 38-19 in Whakatane.

The match marked the comeback for No 8 Ron Cribb, whose Super 12 hopes with the Blues this year were wrecked by a hand injury.

Harbour assistant coach Allan Pollock rated Cribb one of the stars of the match.

"He was charging around in the open as if he'd never been away which was great to see," said Pollock.

"We were very happy with the performance and our scrum was very good although with two new locks [Filiti Fakanogo and Jeff Fahrensohn] we need to do a bit of work on our lineout."

North Harbour led 28-12 at halftime but were kept scoreless until the last 10 minutes when they cracked open the Bay defence for two tries.

Meanwhile, Wellington beat Taranaki 25-21 at the Petone Recreation Ground in an error-strewn match.

Wellington's first-half forward effort lacked commitment and they went to the break trailing 6-11 before stern words from coach Graham Mourie brought an instant improvement.

Wellington scored 19 points in the second half but they went to sleep again after that and rather than drive the win home, allowed Taranaki to get back in the match.