Stags earn Wellington respect, but 'poor decision-making' proves costly
“Teams know when they play us it’s going to be a physical encounter, and we are going to play for 80 minutes. That’s the type of characters we want in our team."
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Wellington 36 (Kyle Preston, Riley Higgins, Leni Apisi, Stanley Solomon, Peter Umaga-Jensen, TJ Clarke tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 3 con), Southland 12 (Hayden Michaels, Isacc Te Tamaki tries; Jake Strachan 1 con). HT: 24-0.
Tribune MVP Points: Isaac Te Tamaki 3, Sean Withy 2, Semisi Tupou Taeiloa 1
Overall Points: Sean Withy 7, Semisi Tupou Taeiloa 6, Dylan Nel 5, Isaac Te Tamaki 5, Morgan Mitchell 4, Rory van Vugt 1, Lachlan Albert 1, Viliami Fine 1.
Southland coach James Wilson feels there’s been improvement this season on both sides of the ball, but poor decision-making navigating Wellington’s wind provided a killer blow on Saturday.
The Stags were beaten 36-12 by Wellington in Porirua after trailing 24-0 at halftime in the round five NPC fixture.
Southland won the toss and opted to play into the wind, and it didn’t quite go to plan.
“We unfortunately turned over the ball a bit too much at the wrong time, and obviously Wellington would go boom and send it downfield about 60m.
“A few individuals just made poor decisions off the back of some pretty decent play leading up to it,” Wilson said.
On the flipside, Southland then did not use the wind to its advantage in the second half.
“I think we kicked more in the first half than we did in the second half,” Wilson said.
“Our game drivers were poor in the second half with just how effective we could exit. That wind was strong enough to just send it up…. But respect to [Wellington] they did well, they held onto the ball in the second half and slowed the ball up when they needed to.”
Despite letting in 24 first-half points, and 36 in total against Wellington, Southland’s defence has improved in 2024. Opposition teams are generally made to work a lot harder for their points than in previous seasons.
The recruitment of Sean Withy has helped with that resolve, and the return of Isaac Te Tamaki in the midfield should not be underestimated.
He is one of the better defensive centres in the NPC and showed that again on Saturday against a powerful Wellington backline.
Wilson said they did earn the respect of Wellington through the attitude they brought in defence.
He said Wellington coach Alando Soakai made mention after the game that his players were very sore.
“It’s great to hear that from a team like Wellington.”
“Teams know when they play us it’s going to be a physical encounter, and we are going to play for 80 minutes. That’s the type of characters we want in our team and that is the type of characters we’ve got.”
On attack, Southland created enough opportunities against Wellington. In fact, the Stags sparked nine line breaks to Wellington’s eight throughout the 80 minutes. They also spent 4min 37sec in Wellington’s 22m territory only a fraction less than Wellington spent in Southland’s 22.
The second half score was 12 points apiece, although Southland should have banked more points late in the game but was let down by a trio of botched lineouts.
Wilson is confident they are on the improve attacking-wise.
“The last few seasons we’ve definitely improved around our attack and what we are trying to achieve. Especially the guys that have stayed with us and the new guys that have come in have also added.
“The skillset has improved, and the boys are willing to play and have got some confidence to play.”
“It was just disappointing to only score 12 points [against Wellington] when there were opportunities to score more,” Wilson said.
Southland went into the game without a few players, which obviously include those on the injury list - including Paula Latu, Jack Sexton, Blair Ryall, Matt Whaanga, and Jay Renton.
On top of that the Stags coaching group opted to rest three key players - hooker Jack Taylor, lock Mitchell Dunshea, and looseforward Dylan Nel.
The trio have had a big workload and will be important figures as Southland now eyes three games in the space of 10 days.
It’s a ten-day period which will ultimately determine if it can stay in touch of a potential play-off berth.
It will start with Canterbury at Rugby Park in Invercargill on Friday night.
“Canterbury at home is a pretty big target for us, we want that one. Then Manawatu a few days later and then up to Auckland. It’s a big week and half ahead for us so that was in the back of our mind around those players [Taylor, Dunshea, Nel],” Wilson said.