Taranaki turned around a nine-point halftime deficit to down Waikato 30-23 in an ITM Cup match in Hamilton tonight.
Waikato hit the ground running with two tries in the opening 12 minutes but couldn't manage a third in the remaining 68 minutes.
Waikato controlled the first half with assurance, and looked confident up front and in moving the ball wide.
Good strength around the edge of the ruck paid dividends after two minutes when Waikato forced the turnover and ran hard at the Taranaki defence. Loosehead prop Toby Smith provided the finish when he bulldozed over from close in, Stephen Donald provided the extras and the home team led 7-0.
The score was doubled at the 12-minute mark after a quick tap from halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow caught the Taranaki defence napping and he burrowed over to give Waikato a 14-0 lead after Donald's conversion.
While territory and possession were evenly shared in the first 40 minutes, Waikato controlled the game and Taranaki had only one real chance in the 30th minute.
They made the most of it, halfback Tyson Keats offloading to centre Isaia Tuifua, who found No 8 Samuela Vunisa before the ball moved wide for fullback Andre Taylor to finish out on the wing.
Waikato went into the break with a useful 14-5 lead, and maintained the margin as the two teams traded penalties early in the second half.
Fullback Trent Renata, called up for kicking duties after Donald received a heavy knock, sunk one while Taylor slotted two before Taranaki first five-eighth Beauden Barrett sliced through the Waikato defence and offloaded for second five-eighth Jayden Hayward to dive over 15 minutes into the second half.
Taylor's conversion gave the visitors a narrow 18-17 lead, soon reclaimed by two Renata penalties which included one 45m-plus effort.
Taranaki struck back after 66 minutes when Hayward broke through in the midfield and found replacement openside flanker Chris Walker on the inside to score.
Taylor's conversion gave them a 25-23 lead, which was extended as Waikato tried to run the ball out from their own 22 with two minutes remaining.
Taranaki forced the error and moved the ball quickly to replacement forward Blade Thomson
to finish off out wide for the bonus-point try.
