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Cats' day of Blues Auckland's McFarland clinches victory with late try
Posted: Saturday April 17, 1999 01:14 PM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Reuters) -- Auckland Blues' replacement hooker Slade McFarland broke the Cats' hearts when he barged over for a try three minutes from time to clinch a 24-11 Super 12 win over the South African side on Saturday. The Cats should never have lost the match after having territorial advantage in the second half and blowing a number of gift-wrapped chances. McFarland, whose parents named him after British '70s rock group Slade, came into the game late and was part of the pack that was having to sustain some tremendous pressure from the Cats. But he was on hand on a rare occasion the Blues made a foray into the visitors 25, picked up a loose ball and shrugged off a couple of Cats' tackles to crash over the line. Blues skipper Robin Brooke said afterwards: "The score flattered us a bit but we made the tackles when they counted and they [the Cats] made the errors." It took the Blues only eight minutes to open the scoring with a swift right-left backline move. Craig Innes was almost over in the corner but passed on to prop Paul Thompson to his left and he needed only to drop over the line. The Blues were on top at the break, although the Cats' forwards were giving them a torrid time and the Blues' 11-3 advantage was perhaps a little fortuitous. The Cats made a storming start to the second half. Within two minutes Mulder had gone over in the right wing corner after the South Africans had been camped on the Blues' line. Pieter O'Neill then added his second penalty to level the game at 11-11. The Blues collected themselves and, with winger Joeli Vidiri in sparkling form, began to regain the territorial advantage. The reliable Adrian Cashmore landed two penalties to secure a six-point advantage. The Cats had to take the game to the Blues and put some tremendous pressure on the Auckland line, forcing six scrums in quick succession. After the final one, Cats captain Johan Erasmus robbed Blues' scrum-half Mark Robinson but spilled the ball over the line. The win left the Blues on course for their fourth successive top four finish. The Cats have plenty of work to do to secure a semifinal berth.
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