It was a hard day at the office for Waikato Mana as Akarana ran rampant in a 68-6 victory.
Akarana started strong with seven tries in the first half. Winger Jeremiah Poutu drew first blood for Akarana with a try on the left edge in the first 5 minutes of the game. Followed by another try from Brody Tamarua, who powered through the Waikato defence, stretching over the line to put Akarana further in front.
With 10 minutes to go for the first half, Waikato were desperate to put points on the board before heading into the sheds. Benefiting from an error from Akarana, Waikato saw Taane Paki desperately kick and chase the ball through the strong Akarana defence to ground the ball over the line.
Akarana wasted no time hitting back and scored their 7th try by Matthew Whyte, adding to his team’s growing try tally, and Tamarua converting to increase Akaranas lead to 40-6.
Akaranas momentum continued into the first few minutes of the second half as Solomon Vasuvulagi easily barged his way through defence towards the try line.
With the score margin increasing, Akarana continued aggressiveness, leading to 4 more tires in the second half. Key player Francis Leger set up another try for his winger Poutu, scoring an identical try from the first half on the right edge this time. Minutes later saw their hooker quick play from dummy half over the line.
Waikato’s defence looked tired as Akarana battered them with attacking prowess and try after try. With 5min left till the hooter, Waikato fought hard, but Akarana were too aggressive and saw their winger Poutu with an extraordinary run, scoring his hat trick to end the game.
A complete performance from the Akarana Falcons saw the final scoring being 68-6 to the Auckland side.
