The night rugby won, but the Stags came up short
The folk at New Zealand Rugby HQ must hold regular meetings pondering how they can bottle the fan enthusiasm in Southland and spread it throughout the rest of the competition.
Canterbury 41 (N Shearer 2, N Punivai 2, D McLeod, R Crotty tries; S Miyake 4 con, 1 pen), Southland 29 (V Fine 2, M Manson, L Howley tries; B Smith 3 con, 1 pen). HT: 24-17.
Tribune MVP Points: Michael Manson 3, Sean Withy 2, Viliami Fine 1.
Overall Points: Sean Withy 9, Semisi Tupou Taeiloa 6, Dylan Nel 5, Isaac Te Tamaki 5, Morgan Mitchell 4, Michael Manson 3, Viliami Fine 2, Rory van Vugt 1, Lachlan Albert 1.
Before we start to get analytical let’s take a moment to dish out a couple of bouquets.
Friday night’s Southland-Canterbury showdown at Rugby Park in Invercargill is the sort of advertisement the National Provincial Championship needs.
The Stags played their part despite the 41-29 loss - both through the fight they showed to the 80th minute and their endeavour in attack.
Ten tries in total were scored in an entertaining fixture. Southland registered four of them.
To add to the occasion, there was the return of All Black Ethan de Groot in his first NPC game for the Stags since 2020.
Like the players, Southland’s fan faithful yet again played their part as well turning out in big numbers at Rugby Park.
The folk at New Zealand Rugby HQ must hold regular meetings pondering how they can bottle the fan enthusiasm in Southland and spread it throughout the rest of the competition - actually throughout New Zealand rugby in general.
The Stags have won eight games from its past 43 NPC outings but get treated in Southland like a team coming off back-to-back titles.
That’s the warm fuzzies dealt with.
Brushing off losses without any scrutiny would be accepting mediocrity.
As good as the Stags have played through the first six games in 2024, they have just two wins to show for it. And for most part it has been Southland’s own undoing.
Southland is yet to claim one of the so-called big scalps in the NPC and with some more accuracy through longer periods against Canterbury, Friday night would have been as good a night as any to sort that.
Those within the Stags camp are the first to acknowledge that.
‘‘We can’t give a good team like that a start like that in NPC. You get punished and then you are playing catchup footy,’’ Stags co-coach James Wilson said about going down 14-0 after just five minutes.
The first minute or so against Canterbury probably provided a snapshot of the Stags’ entire season to date.
Southland produced a sublime passage on attack through the first minute before turning the ball over with a questionable high kick and allowing Canterbury to score at the other end.
‘‘Our transition needs to improve around us turning the ball over and then getting back into our defence. Good teams will punish you,’’ Wilson said.
Southland did claw the score back to 17-17 and was on attack in the later stages of the first half before finding themselves back down the other end of the field.
It then turned a bit messy.
Lock Mitchell Dunshea was shown a yellow card for shoulder-to-head contact in a tackle and from their Canterbury scored a try in the final act of the half to go to the break 24-17 up.
The visitors then went bang-bang early in the second half. In 10 minutes of game time, the score went from 17-17 to 36-17 in Canterbury’s favour.
Stags captain Sean Withy acknowledged it was those periods that have been hurting Southland this season.
‘‘We are really good in patches and then we just let in a couple of really easy tries, which is tough to swallow. Either side of half time is quite a trend for us at the moment, we are giving up points right on half time.
‘‘We have addressed it but we haven’t fixed it. So, it’s something we need to fix.’’
To Southland’s credit, there have been a few games that have looked like a blowout of old was brewing for the Stags, only for Southland to show plenty of resolve and finish games the better of the two teams.
The showdown against Canterbury on Friday night was another example of that.
From 36-17 down the Stags scored tries to replacement halfback Liam Howley and wing Viliame Fine and all of a sudden with 15 minutes to play Southland was in striking distance at 36-29.
Unfortunately, the fairytale come-from-behind win didn’t eventuate as Canterbury scored last to wrap up a 41-29 victory.
Withy again hammered home his importance to the Stags team with another strong 80-minute performance, while wing Michael Manson in his second game back from a hamstring highlighted how his pace on the wing can be such an asset.
Manson scored the first of Southland’s four tries in the 10th minute when first five-eighth Byron Smith put a grubber kick into the kick-goal and Manson sprinted through to get to the ball just before it went over the dead-ball line.
His pace was also prominent in Southland’s third try when he got on the outside on his opposite winger before feeding Howley on the inside to score. His wing partner Viliame Fine also finished well banking two tries himself.
Unfortunately for Manson, he copped a knock to the hip late in the game which forced him from the field.
Southland was pretty banged up following Friday night which could test them as they now eye two games next week. The first is on Wednesday against Manawatu in Palmerston North, before taking on Auckland in Auckland on Sunday.
Lock Shneil Singh failed an HIA and did not return to the field in Friday night so is likely to be missing against Manawatu, and there is real concern over tight-head prop Morgan Mitchell who is carrying back injury.
Mitchell was initially named to play against Canterbury but picked up a back complaint in scrum training.
The good news is that looseforward Blair Ryall returned from injury against Canterbury and provided another glimpse of his importance to the Stags team.
Ryall came off the bench a couple of minutes into the second half and was dynamic with ball in hand and work hard in defence.
Thought I saw Nel leave injured too?