The big Semi Final of the morning for a finals spot in the Mens Over 40 grade between Counties Manukau and Canterbury started off at a good pace, both teams had early touches of the ball due to handling errors.
Five minutes into the game no touchdowns had been scored, but Canterbury had a great opportunity through a superb offload from #14, but a handling error denied them the opening score. At the 10-minute mark Counties Manukau had their chance when #10 broke the defensive line with a great show of speed, but with no support player to off-load to a try went begging.
Counties Manukau finally broke the deadlock when their #9 got hold of a quickie long ball from #6.
Counties #8 then had a great run with 2 touchdowns in a row from a scoop and longball player and the defence not saving.
Canterbury were down 0-3 and missed a touchdown opportunity that would have brought them back into contention. A brilliant show of speed and skill by #12 to sidestep two defending players to cross the line and offload to the winger who couldn’t manage to ground the ball. Close to half time Canterbury finally got their touchdown when #14 was on the end of a scoop shortside long ball play.
It was very much ‘game on’ as the second half commenced when Canterbury were the first to make a touchdown in the second half brining the score to 4-2 with 6 minutes left in the game.
Counties Manukau showed good yards down the field throughout the whole second half, but were unable to score off any moves until they crossed the line once more to end the game on a win with the score of 4-2. They progress to the finals against Auckland Mens Over 40s in what should be a great match later in the day.
Last Modified on 03/03/2010 10:56