Turbos show mettle in close loss to Wellington
Manawatū coach Mike Rogers hopes his side can maintain the same level of intensity for the rest of the season after a narrow loss to Wellington.
Manawatū lost 39-31 in a back-andforth match in Porirua on Sunday.
A game the Turbos could have won, it was a big improvement after a disappointing first two weeks of the season and a performance Manawatū will need to replicate when they host Hawke’s Bay on Sunday.
But the job has been made harder as Manawatū has lost more players to injury, with first-five an area of concern.
Reece MacDonald had a great game against Wellington in just his second outing for Manawatū, but he was concussed after being hit in the head during a tackle by Wellington’s Du’Plessis Kirifi. He passed the head injury assessment during the game, but failed one afterwards. Brett Cameron was already out with concussion and unlikely to play this weekend, while Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula was with the Fiji squad.
Liam O’Connor, in his first year out of school, had a tidy debut off the bench.
Two forwards were late withdrawals and unlikely to play this week. Lockloose forward Johan Momsen was concussed at training and prop Misinale Epenisa took a knock to the head and neck at training.
With Feleti Sae Ta’ufo’ou still not fit, it leaves a hole at tighthead prop, with Flyn Yates the only fit specialist tighthead. Malakai Hala-Ngatai had recovered from injury but was a specialist loosehead. Logan Wallace was already ruled out for the season.
No 8 Tyler Laubscher only lasted three minutes before going off with a knee injury and captain Brayden Iose was unlikely to be back this week.
Lock Micaiah Torrance-Read and wing Ataata Moeakiola were already out injured.
Turbos coach Mike Rogers said it was the team’s best performance during his tenure and he believed they should have won against a good Wellington side, although he knew the squad’s depth was being tested with 12 injuries.
“Coming into the campaign when we’ve got two Super Rugby 10s, four really good young tightheads and Reece MacDonald, I was thinking we should be sweet,” he said.
Rogers was pleased with how the backs performed. “They chased, kicked, defended well. We had our opportunities and they probably could do much better that.”
Japanese prop Sho Maeda debuted off the bench before going off with injury late in the game. From the Kobe club, he had been training with the Turbos as part of Manawatū’s relationship with the Dave Rennie-coached club.
There were reasons to be optimistic with the performance from the exciting MacDonald, hooker Raymond Tuputupu and flankers Slade McDowall and TK Howden. Second-five James Tofa gave them front-foot ball and prop Joe Gavigan led a strong scrummaging effort. The lineout was also better this week.
Manawatū did well to come back into the game after being 14-0 down and fought to be level 17-all at halftime. They led 31-24 after 65 minutes, but Wellington loose forward Peter Lakai, who was a wrecking ball all day, scored a try to close the gap. Then Wellington scored from a lineout drive and later kicked a penalty to go up by eight points. Manawatū tried to get back into the game, but conceded three penalties.
The Turbos should be helped this weekend by Hawke’s Bay being in their storm week, with three matches in a week. They would play Canterbury in Christchurch tomorrow before coming to Palmerston North.
NPC standings: BOP 17, Hawke’s Bay 15, Wellington 15, Tasman 14, Taranaki 11, Canterbury 9, Otago 9, North Harbour 7, Waikato 6, Southland 5, Northland 5, Auckland 2, Counties Manukau 2, Manawatū 1.