Timoci Tavatavanawai made his mark with a well-taken try for Moana Pasifika in their 31-30 defeat against the Blues in Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific encounter at Eden Park in Auckland.
With the score 17-3 in the Blues’ favour, the visitors needed to score points if they still wanted anything from this match and Tavatavanawai stepped up to cross the whitewash in the 36th minute.
Moana were on the attack deep inside the Blues‘ half when the hosts were penalised for slowing the ball down illegally at a breakdown. The flying Fijian caught everybody by surprise as he took a quick tap penalty before barging over the try-line without a finger being laid on him.
Referee Graham Cooper checked with his TMO whether Tavatavanawai tapped the ball before playing and after television replays revealed that he did, the try was awarded to the visitors.
🌊 Moana Pasifika flyer Timoci Tavatavanawai catches the Blues by surprise and crosses for a well-taken try! #SuperRugbyPacific #BLUvMOA pic.twitter.com/xfLsIsaQIa
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Christian Leali’ifano slotted the conversion which meant the visitors were back in the game with the score 17-10 in the Blues’ favour.
Moana had opened the scoring via a Leali’ifano penalty in the 13th minute before the Blues struck back with tries from Akira Ioane, Kurt Eklund and Caleb Clarke, with Harry Plummer succeeding with one conversion.
And just before half-time, Abraham Pole scored another try for Moana which meant the match was evenly poised as the Blues held a 17-15 lead at the break.
After the interval, Moana regained the advantage when Leali’ifano crossed for their third try which he also converted but the Blues were back in front on the hour-mark when Sam Darry dotted down and Zarn Sullivan added the extras.
Moana didn’t panic and a penalty from D’Angelo Leuila in the 63rd minute gave them the lead again and they went further ahead when Fine Inisi scored another try five minutes later.
The game’s closing stages were frantic as the Blues were camped inside Moana’s territory as they went in search of the win and, after the visitors were penalised on several occasions, the home side were awarded a penalty try which sealed their victory in dramatic circumstances in the game’s dying moments.
Video credit: Super Rugby Pacific
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