Maori Centenary Season Clean Sweep – New Zealand Maori 35-28 England
England came up short in the final match of their summer tour as they bowed to the power and pace of the New Zealand Maori in Napier.
England started with pace and power and two Charlie Hodgson penalties and a Steffon Armitage try put them 13-0 up but the Maori replied through Hosea Gear and Liam Messam to lead 17-13. England then finished the first half strongly hitting back with tries from Danny Care and Chris Ashton bringing the half-time score of 17-28 to England.
Hosea Gear
The second period and perhaps Charlie Hodgson going off didn’t help as England failed to score again whilst Gear powered over for two more tries and Willie Ripia’s two penalties sealed it. Giving us the final score of:
New Zealand Maori 35-28 England
Scorers
NZ Maori (17) 35
Tries: Gear 3, Messam Cons: McAlister 3 Pens: McAlister, Ripia 2
England (28) 28
Tries: S Armitage, Care, Ashton Cons: Hodgson 2 Pens: Hodgson 3
Teams
New Zealand Maori: Robbie Robinson (Southland); Sean Maitland Canterbury, Dwayne Sweeney (Waikato), Luke McAlister (North Harbour), Hosea Gear (Wellington); Stephen Brett (Canterbury), Aaron Smith (Manawatu); Clint Newland (Hawke’s Bay), Corey Flynn (Canterbury), Ben Afeaki (North Harbour), Hayden Triggs (Otago), Jarrad Hoeata (Taranaki), Karl Lowe (Hawke’s Bay), Tanerau Latimer (Bay of Plenty), Liam Messam (Waikato, capt).
Replacements: Dane Coles (Wellington – for Flynn, 57), Bronson Murray (Northland – for Newland, 65)), Isaac Ross (Canterbury – for Triggs, 67), Colin Bourke (Bay of Plenty – for Lowe, 65)), Ruki Tipuna (Wellington – for Smith, 57), Willie Ripia (Taranaki – for Brett, 60), Jackson Willison (Waikato).
England: Delon Armitage (London Irish); David Strettle (Harlequins), Mathew Tait (Sale), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Chris Ashton (Northampton); Charlie Hodgson (Sale), Danny Care (Harlequins); David Flatman (Bath), George Chuter (Leicester), Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester), David Attwood (Gloucester), Geoff Parling (Leicester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain), Steffon Armitage (London Irish), Phil Dowson (Northampton).
Replacements: Rob Webber (Wasps – for Chuter, 48), Dan Cole (Leicester – for Doran-Jones, 60), Dan Ward-Smith (Wasps – for Attwood, 60), James Haskell (Stade Francais – for S Armitage, 60), Ben Youngs (Leicester – for Care, 60), Shane Geraghty (Northampton – for Hodgson, 48), Ben Foden (Northampton – for Tait, 67).
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