A brave Utiku squandered a handy half time lead before fighting back valiantly to draw 17-17 in a mistake-ridden local derby in the Tasman Tanning Wanganui premier rugby clash in Taihape on Saturday.
The Utiku loose forwards had a field day throughout the match completely dominating the rucks and mauls to provide the backs with quality ball, many of them turnovers from a hapless Taihape.
The Utiku Old Boys side showed far more urgency than their neighbouring club at Memorial Park in front of a large crowd, but destroyed all the good work through silly mistakes to allow Taihape a foot in the door.
An early penalty three minutes into the game gave Utiku the chance for an early lead, but first-five Te Rangi Tapu McLeod failed to land the goal, which would come back and bite them at the end of the match.
Outstanding work by No8 Adam Roe resulted in the first try for Utiku 15 minutes into the match and again Tapu McLeod missed the conversion.
A Taihape penalty converted by fullback Luke Whale kept the reds in the game before Tapu McLeod found his kicking form, landing a penalty 30 minutes into the game to make it 8-3. Ten minutes later he landed another penalty from 40m out to stretch the lead to 11-3, a score that stood at half time.
Taihape called on reserves to improve the forward play, yet they were still no match for the Utiku loosies. Taihape was guilty of taking wrong options and handling errors let them down on the rare occasions they did find ball.
Hands in the ruck cost Taihape another three points five minutes into the second spell giving Utiku a 14-3 lead. However, persistent infringing gave Utiki flanker James Maher time in the sin bin.
A try with eight minutes left on the clock closed the gap to 14-10. Taihape first-five Tom Wells kicked for touch in the corner from a penalty with just minutes to go and the forward pack rallied for a pushover try from the resulting lineout - the score was suddenly 17-14 to Taihape. With one minute left Utiku was gifted a penalty which Tapu McLeod duly slotted to draw level for a 17-17 scoreline at the whistle.
Utiku coach Gavin Thompson said while his side should have won he conceded silly mistakes let them down.
"On the upside we have been steadily improving with each game lately. The loose forwards had an outstanding game, especially James Maher, Mark Logan and Adam Roe. I can't wait for the second round to start next week," Thompson said.
Taihape coach Kerry Whale accepted his team had a woeful first half, but panic didn't set in.
"We played very poorly in the first half and didn't deserve to be in it, but to be fair we hadn't played for a few weeks. We never panic though and came back in the end," Whale said.
Taihape ended round one fourth on the points table with 22, 14 behind leaders Ruapehu, while Utiku sits seventh on 11 points.