Someone once said something about a game of two halves (and then they said it again..).
This was that.
First half, Tasman seemed a mix of casual, butter-fingered, overly-anxious hunguses determined to keep Southland in the game.
Second half they came out much more focused, accurate and playing for each-other and eventually broke the Southland shackles.
Not sure whether playing with the wind was responsible for some pretty dire catching and passing. Tbh Southland played the first half like there was a heavy mid-afternoon dew , as well.
Anyway, ended up pretty comfortable.
Much better from just about everyone compared to last week's debacle - at least in the 2nd half. David Havili back to being a talisman. Fox-Matamua went well at 8. Ross improved the lineout. Renton probably had his best game of the season.
Once we stopped dropping the ball Big Leicester and Fetu Paea started to look good. Fonotia was decent and Mark Talea had his moments.
Nice cameo from Segner with one blockbusting run and a little catch and pass to set up a try. Worth another run next week, IMO.
Biggest problem was Isaac Salmon at tighthead - we went from having a dominant scrum with Matenga, to getting beaten up. That suggest that Matenga might be worth a look from a Super team.
Pleasing effort in the loose from Sam Moli. I'm not sure whether he threw to the linout, but I'd stick with him for next week as well.
