Canterbury streak away

Michael Paterson goes over for his second try

Canterbury kept up their form in the Air New Zealand Cup with an impressive 44-15 win over soon-to-be-extinct neighbours Tasman at AMI Stadium on Sunday.

In a high-quality match full of enterprise and open play, the Cantabs' superior fitness predictably told late in the match after Tasman had spent much of the first hour posing serious questions.

Opposing fly-halves Miah Nikora and Colin Slade traded penalties inside the first four minutes, but Canterbury took the lead after 10 minutes when lock Isaac Ross hit a hole and fed left wing James Paterson. Slade converted and it was 10-3.

Paterson was in the scoring action again within minutes, when loose ball from centre Joel Iggo was batted out to his wing.

Paterson picked it up, stepped a couple of defenders and travelled half the pitch to score.

Tasman looked dangerous with ball in hand but with Canterbury pushing defence up in their faces they could not find the necessary finesse.

Instead, wing Scott Hamilton broke inside Tasman's 22 before drifting towards the left-hand touchlin to pick up flanker Hayden Hopgood, who offloaded in the tackle and sent Ross over in the corner. Slade missed his third goal from five attempts, and it was 20-3 after half an hour.

Finally Tasman got on the board, with scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'i providing a neat offload to full-back Robbie Malneek who ran 30m on the angle to beat two defenders and score. Nikora converted.

Then Tasman struck again, with Fotuali'i out-sprinting the cover defence on a 40m run to the line and make it 20-15.

Centre Adam Whitelock scored for Canterbury just before the break, the fourth try in a very busy ten minutes and the home side's bonus-point score. Slade missed again, and it was 25-15 at the break.

The second half failed to live up to the standard of the first spell, with the long periods of attack clearly having an effect on the lungs and handling from both teams.

After a long concerted period on attack, Canterbury finally produced the first points of the second half. Tasman's outstanding defence was finally penetrated when lock Michael Paterson barged over from close range.

Minutes later, Michael grabbed his second score, when after a string of accurate passing, Paterson was able to stretch out and score in the corner.

In the final few minutes, replacement midfielder Ryan Crotty beat several defenders to the ball in the in-goal area to score Canterbury's seventh try of the afternoon. Slade converted from wide out to round off the scoring.

The scorers:

For Canterbury:

Tries: James Patterson 2, Michael Paterson 2, Ross, Whitelock, Crotty

Cons: Slade 3

Pen: Slade

For Tasman:

Tries: Malneek, Fotuali'i

Con: Nikora

Pen: Nikora

Canterbury: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Adam Whitelock, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 James Paterson, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Tyson Keats; 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Hayden Hopgood, 6 Kieran Read (c), 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Wyatt Crockett.

Replacements: 16 Steve Fualau, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Nasi Manu, 19 George Whitelock, 20 Steve Alfeld, 21 Ryan Crotty, 22 Kosuke Endo/Stephen Brett.

Tasman: 15 Robbie Malneek, 14 Blair Cook, 13 Andrew Goodman (c), 12 Joel Iggo, 11 Kade Poki, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Mark Bright, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Jonathan Poff, 5 Alex Ainley, 4 Will Crutchley, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Dan Perrin, 1 Ben May.

Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Tristan Moran, 18 Joe Wheeler, 19 Karl Leary, 20 Lua Vailoaloa, 21 James Marshall, 22 Mike Pehi.

Referee: Brent Murray

Television match official: Vinny Munro