League: Stags roar back for upset win

Hikurangi Stags' wing Michael Nepia puts a step on against the Takahiwai Warriors, something his side did a lot of in the second half as they scored 34 unanswered points to win 34-20. Photo/Michael Cunningham

In what was a true game of two halves, the Hikurangi Stags crashed the party of Takahiwai Warriors' fans with a rampant second half to win 34-20.

After being up 20-nil at halftime Takahiwai could be forgiven for going to sleep a little, but they went more into a comatosed state as Hikurangi scored 34 unanswered points.

With strong home support on Saturday, Takahiwai coach Shane Hool was left scratching his head as to how his side let such a strong start slip away in a game that was a rematch of last year's MultiKai Cooker Premiership final.

"I think we fell asleep, thought we had it and then they came back," Hool said after the game. "I don't know what happened to our guys.

"I think it showed we've been having bad showings at trainings the last couple of weeks and it has finally caught up with us.

"Hopefully it shakes them into action to get to training."

Until the weekend's game Takahiwai were undefeated and boasted the competition's best attack and defensive records, something Hool believes could have counted against his side.

"We should always be trying to get better but I think for a few of them it went to their heads; at least it's not the last game of the season."

"We've got quite a few new players, probably half of the team from last year, but in saying that Hikurangi have quite a few new faces as well - they just wanted it more than us."

Hikurangi coach Joe Rau, who was his usual hard working self on the pitch, felt his side's comeback was a real team effort.

He admitted Takahiwai caught them off guard in the first half, complementing their structure and intensity.

"We knew if we wanted to be competitive with them we had to actually toughen up and smarten up, otherwise we were looking at a tough day," Rau said.

"Once we started holding the ball we started building pressure and obviously it was a different story in the second half.

"If you've got the ball then you're in a better position than when you're tackling."

Going into the game Rau said his side had a pretty simple focus, be competitive.

"That was our goal, they've got the best attack and best defence so our main focus was to be competitive and do things we wanted to do and see how we got on.

He added that while the result was good he hoped his side wasn't showing too many of their tricks too early, saying he hoped to be a bit of a dark horse when the play-offs came around.

In other Rugby League Northland MultiKai Cooker Premiership matches, the Otangarei Knights continued their winning run for another week with a comfortable 36-16 win over the previously second placed Hokianga Pioneers.

Kerikeri came close to picking up their first win of the season as they lost 44-38 to Northern Wairoa, while Portland and Moerewa had good wins over Hora Hora and Muriwhenua.

Meanwhile the outcome of Takahiwai and Kerikeri's match last month which was called off due to injury was likely to end in shared points.

The teams had three options after the match - rematch within two weeks, take the score from when the game was called off, or share the points - but it looks as though an option won't be agreed upon, meaning the points are to be shared.