Taihape over-ran a 14-man Ngamatapouri up at Setter's Domain on Saturday. Photo / Jared Smith
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For a moment, if a fleeting moment, Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri were looking at priceless Tasman Tanning Premier bonus points, if not more, against Byford Readimix Taihape up the Waitotara Valley on Saturday.
But with the wave of a red card and then a mounting injury toll amongst an overstretched and limping backline, the last and best hope of fourth spot was gone, as the defending champions turned up the heat and got into their work for a 77-17 blowout.
Both teams brought around 19 players into the match - Taihape playing without coach Tom Wells present, while captain Matt Brown was only going to take the field in an emergency.
Brown wasn't needed, as acting skipper Dylan Gallien turned in a sublime performance - continuing his burgeoning reputation as "Mr Perpetual Motion" by attacking off the ruck or backing up initial busts to score a quartet of tries, which increased his overall tally to nine in the last five matches.
But it took about quarter of the match before his side found their groove, only leading 12-10, before Ngamatapouri's best attacking hope Timoci "Jim" Seruwalu had a rush of blood he would regret.
After tangling with Taihape's talented teenaged winger Tiari Mumby at a breakdown - the youngster's shirt ripped as he was lifted off the ground by upset home forwards - words continued after the separation and Seruwalu marched up to give Mumby a 1-2 to the face.
Referee Sean Fergusson had no choice but to issue the red card and Ngamatapouri were now at desperately long odds without their Steelform Wanganui training squad midfielder, who had already scored a barnstorming 60m try.
Playing overextended opposition was tailor-made for Taihape's brains trust of double try-scoring halfback Tyler-Rogers Holden and first-five Dane Whale, while the forward pack continued to give their side dominant field position - so come midway through the second half, everyone was queuing up for their opportunity to score.
Ngamatapouri lost outside back after outside back to leg injuries as they constant scrambled on cover defence – their remaining standout player Samu Kubunavanua at one point staying on the field but resting against the goal posts as he tried to recover to give another burst.
The home side had no more firepower left to find another two tries for the crucial bonus point, as Taihape's forwards offloaded amongst themselves for five tries in a row in the clubroom's left-hand corner – Gallien dashing off for three of them while his bench demanded a glowing write-up.
"I'm sure the boys will let me know about it. Just trying to do my part and everyone's playing well – it's the reward of what the team's doing," the acting skipper said at fulltime.
"It was obviously very warm, starting out the afternoon, but quite proud of the boys.
"It was pretty messy in the first half but we got back to our structure and it all panned out for us."
Most importantly for Taihape, other than Mumby's bloody nose, they got out of the valley with no more significant injuries, giving themselves another week's respite to get through to the semifinals at 100 per cent.
"There's a few boys carrying a few niggles, we come up here knowing what Ngamat's like, didn't want to take them too lightly, but the boys are healing and they're looking after themselves," said Gallien.
The same could not be said for their hosts - Ngamatapouri manager Gerald Pearce taking stock of eight significant injuries in two games.
"Especially after last week, we lost three for the season, we've had about three out all season and now we've got a whole lot more.
"We ran out of players today; we had about 19 to start with, and ended up with 12 on the paddock at times – just horrendous really.
"We had some reasonably high hopes today, even at halftime, even without Jim.
"We were competitive until Jim left, really, and anything could have happened. When you're down to 13-14, it doesn't really work."
Taihape 77 (D Gallien 4, T Rogers-Holden 2, D Whale, R Karatau, T Mumby, H Hay-Horton, T Payne, L Shanks, T McLeod tries; Whale 5 con, R Irons con) bt Ngamatapouri 17 (T Seruwalu, E Delasau tries; H Taurua pen, 2 con). HT: 26-17.