Manawatu have held on for a 31-25 win over Northland in their Mitre 10 Cup clash in Palmerston North.
Despite being dominated in both territory and possession, the Turbos offered plenty of staunch defence and converted their chances when they came - and they came with a string of stunning tries.
Although they stuck in the fight throughout, poor discipline plagued the Taniwha throughout the contest. They still had one final shot at snatching a win with a five-metre scrum with time expired, but conceded a penalty that sealed their demise.
Snubbed All Black Ngani Laumape showed his class and was a handful for the Northland defenders all night, playing a hand in a couple of the hosts' tries, while Otere Black steered the ship expertly at the pivot.
Fullback Andre Taylor was also impressive in his return to the green-and-white.
- Smith lost self belief - Hansen
- Rookies feature for All Blacks
- All Blacks take stand for mental health
The Turbos opened the scoring with a gem of a try, Laumape playing a hand early, with a deft inside ball to set Adam Boult in the clear and serve Andre Taylor to finish with a flourish in the corner.
In the 25th minute, captain Sam Nock got Northland on the trysheet, with a cheeky blindside scamper from close range to bring his team within three points.
The Turbos nabbed another fantastic try 10 minutes later, before the halftime break, as a 50-metre movement ended in a flashy behind-the-back pass from Jamie Booth to put Jonny Galloway over.
With the halftime hooter sounding, Laumape popped up again with a huge surge through midfield, before putting in a well-weighted grubber for Booth to hack ahead, regather and score to send the hosts into the sheds with a 24-10 lead.
The visitors got a much-needed try to open the second-half scoring, prop Ross Wright powering over the chalk on the back of a mountain of goal-line pressure to bring them within seven points.
As the rain began to plummet, first-five Jack Debreczeni stepped up with a beautifully struck 50m penalty to reduce Northland's deficit to 24-20.
With 13 minutes to play, Taylor grabbed his second try to give Manawatu a 31-20 buffer.
But Northland hit back with a simple try to Scott Gregory to set up a grandstand finish, only for a squandered close-range scrum to bring an end to the match.
Manawatu will move on to play Southland in Invercargill next Saturday, while Northland head back home to face Canterbury next Friday.
Newshub.
