With all teams playing each-other once in this grade today, Bay of Plenty have 'won' the initial round robin. Wellington had the better of Taranaki in the opening match but couldn't back up against BOP later in the day, losing 6-8 in a tight tustle.
Taranaki and Bay of Plenty then met in the afternoon and played out an entertaining match that featured World Cup winning players Steven Toki and Tristan Mana turning it on in a big way.
The game started with Tarankai creating the first opportunity with a scoop through on the line followed by a long ball to score. Bay of Plenty's Matt Croube stepped and drew the score level for BOP. Toke then began to assert his dominance on the game, scooping though close to the line and having his defenders called offside before playing through for the score.
On their next visit to Taranaki's end, BOP created an overlap with Taranki saving before Toki managed to dive between their middles to score. It wasn't long before Toki was it it again, faking a longball before passing a short hole ball to Mana. On the full-time hooter Emanuel Werahiko used his speed to beat the middles and score, giving BOP a 5-1 lead.
The second half started with Werahiko on the scoop and go, passing off for Rangi Rapana to score. Taranaki responded immediately and pulled one back but it wans't long before BOP got down the other end again with Werahiko passing off to Toki to score.
Mana and Toki combined to score two more times before Taranki got on the scoreboard again with a late consolation effort.
The teams will repeat the round robin tomorrow with the top two heading a for showdown on Tuesday.
Last Modified on 27/02/2012 14:32