What a difference Stephen Perofeta makes, then.
With the addition of last year’s competition MVP, Taranaki have turned their NPC season around in dramatic fashion after a stunning 16-10 upset of high-flying Canterbury in New Plymouth on Saturday.
Having gone unbeaten on their way to the championship division crown last year, it was second-season syndrome unfolding for coach Neil Barnes, with the amber and blacks having started 2022 in awful shape, losing at home to Northland, before a 40-point drubbing at Bay of Plenty last weekend.
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Taranaki celebrate their upset win over Canterbury in New Plymouth on Saturday.
Yet here they were, in the rain and mud at Pukekura Park, upending a Canterbury side who had cantered in for 15 tries in two bonus-point wins to open their campaign.
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The magic cure for the Naki? Maybe you just have to put it down to the inclusion of fullback Perofeta, who, after a maiden All Blacks call-up, was playing his first game of footy since the Super Rugby Pacific final for the Blues two months ago.
The 2021 top points scorer and Duane Monkley medallist made his presence felt early with one outstanding run, and at the back of the park provided an educated boot, calm head and solid defence, while also slotting a crucial 11 points off the tee, in a game where the fast-finishing Cantabs ended up outscoring the hosts two tries to one.
George Bridge finished in the corner in the 69th minute for the visitors’ first points, and they had another in the 76th minute to George Bell, and while Fergus Burke was left remonstrating with the assistant referees post-match about a conversion he thought was good over the short goalposts, his side still had a couple of late chances to conjure something from deep, but were unable to do the miraculous.
But after Daniel Rona had burst onto a Jayson Potroz ball and surged 30 metres for the game’s opening try in the 27th minute, the day really was one to belong to Taranaki.
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Daniel Rona goes over for Taranaki’s sole try in their upset of the red and blacks at Pukekura Park.
The highly-spirited home side muscled up to dominate at scrum time, and owned the battle of the breakdown – an area the red and blacks had been so superior in in their thrashing of Wellington last weekend.
Canterbury had their own All Black back in Braydon Ennor, who they injected off the bench at halftime, but the visitors were at times their own worst enemies with their handling in the tough conditions, and their ill-discipline, which now leaves only Auckland and Waikato (one draw) as the unbeaten sides in the competition.
Meanwhile, there was an upset in the other Saturday afternoon game, too, with Northland downing Wellington 15-6 at Jerry Collins Stadium in Porirua.
The Taniwha hadn’t beaten the Lions since 2014, but two impressive first-half tries did the job in a wet-weather affair which went scoreless in the second stanza as the hosts missed three shots off the tee.
Despite being on the wrong end of possession and territory, Northland struck a double blow in the five minutes before halftime, firstly through Rob Rush on the back of a 22-metre rolling maul, and then from a half-field effort featuring lovely quick hands by Jack Goodhue, a fine run by Heremaia Murray and a slick finish by Josh Moorby.
Later on Saturday, North Harbour handed Tasman a second successive defeat in a 35-27 result in Albany.
The Mako were boosted by the inclusion of All Blacks Sevu Reece (fullback) and Leicester Fainga’anuku (left wing), with Reece going in for two tries, though also spending time in the sin bin in the first half after being the scapegoat on the back of a team warning.
But while the visitors scored four tries to two, it was the excellent boot of Bryn Gatland which was key for Harbour, the Chiefs pivot nailing nine from nine off the tee for a personal haul of 25 points.
AT A GLANCE
Taranaki 16 (Daniel Rona try; Stephen Perofeta con, 3 pen) Canterbury 10 (George Bridge, George Bell tries). HT: 10-0.
Northland 15 (Rob Rush, Josh Moorby tries; Rivez Reihana con, pen) Wellington 6 (Jackson Garden-Bachop 2 pen). HT: 15-6.
North Harbour 35 (Kade Banks, Tevita Li tries; Bryn Gatland 2 con, 7 pen) Tasman 27 (Sevu Reece 2, Noah Hotham, Andrew Makalio tries; Campbell Parata 2 con, pen). HT: 23-17.
Saturday NPC wrap: Taranaki hold on for stunning upset of Canterbury & Latest News Update
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