Northland lost their third consecutive game on Saturday, Northland's Aorangi Stokes (with ball) seen here going down after a tackle from Hawke's Bay halfback Folau Fakatava. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland lost their third consecutive game on Saturday, Northland's Aorangi Stokes (with ball) seen here going down after a tackle from Hawke's Bay halfback Folau Fakatava. Photo / Tania Whyte
Playing against a team with a near-perfect lineout drive, giving away penalties is never going to win you that game.
Unfortunately for Northland, that statement came true on Saturday night at Semenoff Stadium as the hosts went down 43-28 to Hawke's Bay. The Magpies ran in seven tries,winger Neria Formai scoring a hat trick, as the boys from the Bay ensured the win with a disciplined, patient performance.
Hawke's Bay's Tom Parsons (right) was too good on this occasion for Northland's Sam McNamara. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland conceded eight penalties in the first half compared with four from Hawke's Bay. The Taniwha went on to give away about half a dozen more in the second half with a fair amount coming at scrum time over the game.
"We had 14 [penalties] against us and we spoke [yesterday] that there was about 10 that potentially were avoidable through our own actions," Northland coach Derren Witcombe said.
"We talked about that [yesterday] and that's just some learnings for some guys and unfortunately we have to learn by experience sometimes."
Northland first five Jack Debreczeni (with ball) did well off the tee to keep his side in the hunt. Photo / Tania Whyte
It was Northland's third consecutive loss off the back of heavy defeats to Taranaki and Auckland. Over the three games, Northland have conceded 138 points and scored 57.
While he felt some of the penalties at scrum time could have been awarded to either team, Witcombe still believed the hunger shown from his team was enough to win games.
"I certainly don't want to make any excuses but we've got some guys there that haven't experienced a lot of Mitre 10 Cup and we are learning along the way but the pleasing thing is we are learning," he said.
"We really dug deep for each other, it's really good to see and that shows to us as coaches we're fighting through this challenging period and we want to come out the other end of it."
The heart and determination shown by Northland will be needed again against Manawatu on Thursday, Northland's Scott Gregory and Jaycob Matiu (left) seen coming out of the tunnel. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland have been ravaged by injury this season and had as many as five senior players missing from Saturday's lineup. In their next game against Manawatu on Thursday, only Josh Goodhue and Jordan Hyland would possibly return to the field at this stage. It was still unknown how long captain Jordan Olsen would be out for.
Stand-in Taniwha captain on Saturday, Sam Nock, echoed his coach's comments and said the hunger was there, just not the execution.
"We talked about putting some pride back into the jersey which I think we did, there was a lot of ticker out there, it was just those moments when we switched off which cost us," the halfback said.
"We put ourselves under a lot of pressure, giving [Hawke's Bay] easy outs and infringements that we can easily avoid."
Apart from the result, the day was filled with positives with a bumper crowd turning up to witness the pre-game festivities from young Northland rugby club representatives who had been bussed down for the game.
Mid Northern, in red, were the victors of a well-contested under-14 curtainraiser as they ran out to a 44-38 victory over Kerikeri. Photo / Tania Whyte
Before the game, the Northland under-14 North vs South final was played as a curtain-raiser to the main event and produced an entertaining spectacle for the early crowd with Mid Northern earning a hard-fought 44-38 victory over Kerikeri.
