KEY POINTS:
Two tries in as many minutes took a Tasesa Lavea-inspired Counties Manukau to within a whisker of upsetting under-strength Waikato in Hamilton yesterday.
Lavea returned from an injury-enforced eight months in the rugby wilderness and immediately stamped his class on a Counties side that has been sorely missing
his pedigree, just barely falling short of inspiring the cellar dwellers to their second win of the season.
A Waikato side stacked with new faces made a strong start courtesy of a blistering finish by wing James Kamana in the second minute and then stretched their lead at the end of the first quarter with another cracking try, this time a team effort finished by prop Aled de Malmanche.
Both tries had the stamp of stand-in fullback Dwayne Sweeney all over them. Sweeney was supposed to be playing centre but made a late switch when Soseni Anesi withdrew after picking up a hamstring injury in the warm-up.
He set up the first Waikato try with a scything kick return and was on hand to supply the final pass to De Malmanche for their second after a break by rookie openside Matt Blain and an intelligent skip pass from Kamana.
At that stage it looked as if Lavea's best efforts would be spent in yet another Counties damage control operation. That impression was reinforced eight minutes into the second half when Kamana finished another flowing Waikato move to notch his second try.
But two Counties tries in two minutes, the first to centre Siale Piutau from a Lavea grubber, and the second to wing Sherwin Stowers straight after the kick-off, pulled Counties within two points.
With Counties' scrum firmly in the ascendancy it seemed they would roll over the top of Waikato but the Mooloo men clung on grimly and Callum Bruce gave them some breathing space with a 72nd minute penalty.
"It was a bit scratchy but we'll take the win - a win is a win for us," Waikato captain Liam Messam said.
Lavea was bitterly disappointed Counties couldn't notch their first win since upsetting Auckland in round one but there was no doubting Counties were an entirely different proposition with him in their ranks.
"It is disappointing because we have been working hard and we are still searching for that result," he said. "But I am proud of the way we played.
"The last month we have been playing in our shells so we just wanted to chance our arm a little bit."
Waikato 20
Counties Manukau 15