Late Jordie Barrett penalty seals Taranaki Ranfurly Shield victory over Canterbury
The Ranfurly Shield is returning to Taranaki for the first time in two years.
In a result that replicates the 55-43 Shield victory over Canterbury in 2017, the men in amber and black returned to Christchurch to snatch the Log O’ Wood back off the provincial juggernauts in exhilarating fashion.
Both team’s playmaker’s, Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett, stole the headlines leading into this clash, but it was the boot of Barrett’s younger brother Jordie, playing against his former side, that won the match late on in the piece.
It was Jordie who opened the scoring inside the first few minutes, as he slotted a penalty that stemmed from an infringement by Josh McKay, who is still on the search for a Super Rugby contract after his three-year deal with the Highlanders recently expired.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to extend their lead, as in-form flanker Lachlan Boshier continued to put his hand up for a place in the All Blacks by slipping through a tackle to put Canterbury on the back foot.
His pass found the boot of young wing Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, and the All Blacks Sevens teenager had enough composure to toe the ball ahead and score his first try at Mitre 10 Cup level.
Things went from bad to worse for Canterbury, as Barrett scooped up a Richie Mo’unga knock on to canter into the opposition 22 before slinging away an offload to All Blacks newbie Tupou Vaa’i, who scored his third try in under a week.
Down 13-0 inside the opening 10 minutes, the hosts needed to be the next team to strike, and they did so through the boot of Mo’unga from right out in front of the posts.
That counted for little, though, as the ball-running brilliance of Beauden Barrett edged Taranaki further in front.
Slicing the Canterbury defence in broken play, the 83-test All Blacks playmaker gassed prop Oli Jager and lock Luke Romano to eat up about 30 metres before firing a pass away to Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, who had enough about him to round Mo’unga and run in under the bar for his second try.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFQyCGBAnO7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Desperate to cut into the 17-point deficit before half-time, Canterbury twice squandered good field position handed to them thanks to a multitude of penalties conceded by Taranaki.
Joe Moody was unable to get the better of his opposite Ben May from a scrum five metres from the opposition tryline, but a line break by Manasa Mataele looked to have made amends for his teammate’s error.
However, the forgotten Crusaders wing inexplicably coughed the ball up with the tryline begging, which was enough for Taranaki to head into the sheds with a 20-3 advantage.
It must have been a stern half-time team talk by co-head coach Reuben Thorne, as the hosts came out firing in the second half to put Taranaki under the pump right from the re-start.
The relentless start to the half paid dividends for Canterbury, with Jager crashing over from short range following a flurry of pick-and-gos to chew into the challengers’ lead.
An unsuccessful Jordie Barrett penalty let an opportunity to somewhat cancel Jager’s try out go begging, and Canterbury made sure they capitalised on the Hurricanes star’s let-off.
Having been overshadowed by Beauden Barrett’s playmaking skills in the lead-up to Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens’ second try, Mo’unga hit back with an easily-taken try from an attacking five metre scrum that came after a series of patient build-up play by the hosts.
Receiving a precise pass from Mitchell Drummond, the All Blacks star seared through the gaping Taranaki defensive line before converting his own try to make it a five-point game.
That began to swing the momentum in Canterbury’s favour, with a thumping hit on Beauden Barrett by young midfielder Isaiah Punivai evident of the home side’s desire to retain the Shield.
That changing of the guard eventually reaped the rewards that the Cantabrians were searching for.
For the second week running, #AllBlacks star Damian McKenzie has caught the eye in a Waikato jersey in his last provincial appearance before rejoining the national side.https://t.co/yn7pd2OVrF
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 19, 2020
A slew of Taranaki penalties again let Canterbury back deep into their half, and a looping Drummond pass allowing All Blacks Sevens playmaker Andrew Knewstubb to score his maiden Mitre 10 Cup try.
Adopting a never say die attitude, Taranaki came back hard at the Shield holders after falling behind, and, in a moment of irony, it was a Canterbury penalty that gifted Jordie Barrett a golden chance to put the visitors back in front.
Lining the posts up from almost 50 metres out, Barrett made no mistake to hand his side a one-point advantage with little more than five minutes to play.
Lucky not to be a man down after an off-the-ball shoulder charge by Mitchell Dunshea was overlooked by the officials, Canterbury made one last burst for the line as the clock ticked closer and closer to expiration.
However, a sublime piece of defensive work at the breakdown by Boshier saw the ball pinched back onto the Taranaki side of the ruck.
With about 90 seconds left to play, that was all the visitors needed to win the Ranfurly Shield, and Beauden Barrett had the honour of booting the ball out of play to inspire scenes of jubilation upon the full-time whistle.
Taranaki 23 (Tries to Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens (2), Tupou Vaa’i; conversion and 2 penalties to Jordie Barrett)
Canterbury 22 (Tries to Oli Jager, Richie Mo’unga and Andrew Knewstubb; conversion and penalty to Mo’unga)
H/T: 20-3
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments