Waikato have taken the Ranfurly Shield off Taranaki this afternoon with an emphatic 33-19 win at Yarrow Stadium.
The visitors entered the match on a high having beaten Wellington earlier this week for their first win of 2018.
And they kept that momentum going in the opening moments of today's match when Dwayne Sweeney went over the line in the first minute.
Taranaki managed to tie things up 10 minutes later through Regan Ware but when Waikato scored four more times before halftime to push the score to 33-7, things became more desparate.
Taranaki struck twice early in the second half with uncle and nephew combo Manasa Mataele and Seta Tamanivalu but after they, they struggled to find holes in Waikato's line.
The Mooloo men shut up shop and defended their line until the final whistle, securing the Log o' Wood in the process despite failing to score a single point in the second half.
Waikato won't have too much time to celebrate though with their first defence against Hawke's Bay this Thursday.
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