Two classy second-half tries by Canterbury was enough to give the home team a 28-9 win over Bay of Plenty in a forgettable ITM Cup game at AMI Stadium on Saturday night.
Bay of Plenty, which has never beaten Canterbury in a NPC match, was only a point behind at half-time, but it brought little to this scrappy contest and failed to score in the second half as Canterbury pushed to victory with tries by flanker Matt Todd and centre Robbie Fruean, whose scything 27m run in the 71st minute sealed the win.
Mike Delany opened the scoring in the third minute with a penalty goal from close range and his Canterbury counterpart at first five-eighth, Stephen Brett, missed the chance to equalise with a penalty from 24m after 12 minutes.
Surprisingly Bay of Plenty spurned another easy penalty chance after 17 minutes and Canterbury was able to stem the attack. At that point, Sonny Bill Williams made his much awaited Canterbury debut, replacing an injured Ryan Crotty at second five-eighths.
Given another chance after 20 minutes, Delany was on target with a penalty from the sideline to put his team ahead, 6-0.
Brett pulled three points back with a penalty from 25m in front from the restart and after Bay of Plenty kicked out on the full, Canterbury launched a fine attack but Sonny Bill failed to claw down a high pass with the line open.
Canterbury kept trying to play the game at pace whereas Bay of Plenty was content to have Delany kick for field position which he did with aplomb.
The stop-start match badly needed a try and Canterbury No.8 Nasi Manu provided it, taking a quick tap penalty and surging 9m to the line to score. Brett converted from a handy position to have the home team ahead, 10-6 after 33 minutes.
On the call of half-time, Delany closed to gap to a point with his third penalty goal from 27m and nearly in front.
Canterbury ripped into attack early in the second half, wing Ben Smith making a try-saving tackle on Tu Umaga-Marshall, but Brett restored Canterbury's four-point lead with a penalty after 46 minutes.
After 50 minutes Delany broke Brett's tackle but Sean Maitland smothered saved on his line and Colin Bourke also came up a centimetre short. In the 58th minutes Canterbury finally showed patience and after a Manu break, Williams threw a long pass which George Whitelock flicked on to flanker Matt Todd, who scored wide out. Brett missed the conversion.
Masaga had a try in the corner ruled out on a TMO call on the hour and Delany missed a 41m angled penalty kick minutes later. Canterbury's forwards drove over after 66 minutes, but the ball was held up. From the resulting scrum the Bay was penalised and Brett kicked a simple goal for a 21-9 lead.
The match clincher came in the 71st minute when from a lineout Robbie Fruean was given space in midfield after a lineout win and the big centre powered 27m for his seventh try of the campaign. Brett converted for a 28-9 lead.
Scorers:
Canterbury 28
Tries: Manu, Todd, Fruean
Con: Brett (2)
Pen: Brett (3)
Bay of Plenty 9
Pens: Delany (3)
HT: 10-9