NZRL National Premiership, Falcons to Final, Bulls Must Wait

Pirtek NZRL National Premiership - Falcons to Final, Bulls Must Wait

Defending champions Akarana Falcons have secured their spot in next week's Pirtek NZRL National Premiership final with a comprehensive 70-12 win over Central Vipers in New Plymouth.

But their eventual opponents will depend on the result of tomorrow's clash between Counties Manukau Stingrays and Wellington Orcas at Papakura, with the home side needing victory to claim the other berth.

If they falter, Canterbury Bulls will sneak past into the second position, after they overwhelmed a travel-weary Northern Swords outfit 106-14 in Christchurch.

The three rivals entered this weekend locked together on four wins and a loss each, and knowing the final positions would probably come down to a points-difference countback.

Lagging behind the others, Canterbury needed to beat the winless Swords by at least 93 points, plus whatever Akarana put on the Vipers.

Their hopes received a further boost, when the northerners encountered incredible travel problems that included a cancelled flight and their late arrival for warm-ups played right into the Bulls' hands.

Relentless from the start, the hosts were ahead 46-8 at halftime and never took their foot off the accelerator, continuing at better than a point a minute to the very end.

With teenage wing Cyrus Timo-Latu and hooker Manu Weepu each scoring a hat-trick of tries, and kicker Toi Sepuloni contributing 28 points, they were able to erase the original points difference, but could not hope to match the Falcons' simultaneous scoring spree further up the country.

Akarana probably sensed they needed to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers, and were quickly on the ascendancy against Central, leading 30-12 at the break.

Although far from their top line-up, they were clinical enough, with forward Taylor Daniels continuing to enjoy his relocation to the centres, scoring his second hat-trick in as many games.

That result was enough to keep the Falcons clear of Canterbury and the Bulls' best immediate hope would be for Counties Manukau to stumble at the last hurdle tomorrow.

PIRTEK NZRL NATIONAL PREMIERSHP

Saturday, October 11

Denton Park, Christchurch

Canterbury Bulls 106 (Cyrus Timo-Latu 3, Manu Weepu 3, Vinnie Paul 2, Chris Bamford 2, Dan Moevao 2, Ken Tofilau, Bruce Havea, Toi Sepuloni, Izic Placid, Jack Mundy, Corey Lawrie & Kyle Leka tries; Sepuloni 12 & Moevao 3 goals)Northern Swords 14 (Joel Freeman 2 & Rikki Tarau tries; Cooper goal); HT: 46-8

Bulls: 1-Ken Tofilau, 2-Vinnie Paul, 3-Erwin Sauni, 4-Bruce Havea, 5-Cyrus Timo-Latu, 6-Toi Sepuloni, 7-Izic Placid, 8-Paradise Mann, 9-Manu Weepu, 10-Chris Bamford, 11-Jack Mundy, 12-Corey Lawrie, 13-Agaese Fiso, 14-Alani Kakoi, 15-Dan Moevau, 16-Kyle Leka, 17-James Baxendale

Swords: 1-Israel Tahere, 2-Rikki Tarau, 3-Ross McFarlane, 4- Daniel Fulop, 5-Sharif Mangu, 6-Moses Cooper, 7-Dean Schreurs, 8-Chris Apoua, 9-Joel Freeman, 10-Michael Salase, 11-Manu Tuhoro, 12-Patrick Tane, 13-Kelsin Harding, 14-Elliot Pomare, 15-Poasa Rankin, 16-Alex Salase, 17-Andre Lennox

Referee - Steve Kilgallon Touch - Jason Wilson & Daryl Mataitai

Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth

Akarana Falcons 70 (Taylor Daniels 3, Jeremiah Faaumuumu 2, Soape Kavaliku 2, Simon Ieremia, Mao Uta, Semisi Fotu, Levi Norton, Semisi Mau & Siliga Kepaoa tries; Ieremia 5 & Cody Walker 4 goals) Central Vipers 12 (Haze Reweti & Jaxon Tamati tries; Dylan Hall 2 goals); HT: 30-12

Vipers: 1-Tyson Young, 2-Jo Ratu, 3-Josh Kerr, 22-Reggie Pearce, 5-Haze Reweti, 18-Dylin Hall, 15-Cruze Rauner, 13-Sione Sifa, 6-Travell Ngatoko, 16-Gordon Karaitiana, 11-Jarrod Morffet, 12-Wiremu McSeveny, 13-Gordon Karaitiana, 21-Dempsey Greening, 20-Tieimi Ransfield, 4-Jaxon Tamati, 17-Ale Feaunati

Falcons: 1-Simon Ieremia, 2-Mao Uta, 3-Taylor Daniels, 19-Semisi Fotu, 5-Jeremiah Faaumuumu, 6-Levi Norton, 7-Cody Walker, 8-Eddy Purcell, 9-Marcus Fraser, 10-Soape Kavaliku, 11-Malakai Houma, 12-TeVita Vea, 13-Karl Semeti, 14-Ribeau Norton, 15-Semisi Mau, 16-Siliga Kepaoa, 17-Trent Shaumkel

Referee - Chris McMillan Touch - Eric Kneepkens & Mike Katene

ENDS

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