Replacement prop Sila Puafisi offloads the ball during a Northland attack inside the Tasman Mako's half. Photo / Getty Images
Northland Taniwha's chances of qualifying for the Bunnings Warehouse NPC playoffs may be hanging by a thread after another crushing defeat on the road, this time to the Tasman Mako in Nelson, 52-17.
Tasman had clarity in what they wanted to do and how to achieve it and while Northland hung in there during the opening quarter, it was a matter of time before the Mako started landing the killer blows.
Northland's defence lost shape a wee bit in the opening quarter but the Cambridge blue showed good line speed and determination in their own half to hold off a number of attacks from close range.
Northland kept kicking the ball away to get out of their territory but the tactic played into Tasman's hands as it gave them an ideal springboard to crash through the opposition defence.
Tasman's passing was hot potato stuff and, by the 27th minute, Northland had missed 13 tackles to the Mako's two.
Northland were guilty of making too many unforced errors in their own half while Tasman executed their kicks beautifully and positioned themselves in the right areas of the field.
"It's pretty disappointing. We felt like we started all right and the real downfall was us falling off the set piece defence off scrums," Northland skipper Matt Moulds lamented.
He said the Mako made a lot of inroads and momentum as the game wore on and were able to apply scoreboard pressure.
"We lost in the middle of the park where they managed to score off set piece plays and whenever we kicked for territory, we couldn't put pressure on them."
At halftime, Moulds said his side felt they were still in the game but they didn't start well in the second spell.
Despite having a lion's share of territory and possession in the first quarter, it took Tasman 19 minutes to get on the scoresheet through Levi Aumua off a scrum 5 metres from the Taniwha tryline after receiving a low pass from first five Willy Havili.
Tasman struck again in the 25th minute through Havili following another scrum feed 10 metres inside the Northland half. Taniwha No 10 Rivez Reihana got sucked in defensively by Alex Nankivell and centre Blake Hohaia was caught a little bit wide in the lead-up to that try.
Three minutes later, Northland leaked another try which could not have come at a worse time, heading into the breather.
This time, Havili shot off from a scrum on the halfway mark down the blindside and offloaded to Aumua who flicked an inside pass to Nankivell to score despite Northland halfback Sam Nock desperately clinging on.
All of Tasman's three tries in the first half came off the back of scrums and it was classic training ground stuff executed to perfection on game day.
Up 21-3 at halftime, Tasman ramped up the pressure after the breather and forced Northland to concede penalties at the wrong end of the field.
Northland yielded penalties off the first two lineout throws that allowed Aumua to touch down for his second try. He was simply too big, too strong and too good. Built like a hooker and running like a wing, Aumua was full of raw power and always hungry for more.
Whatever defensive shape Northland brought, the Mako were able to deliver a smart, innovative and flexible attacking game off set piece play to get the result.
The Mako mostly maintained their set-piece dominance, varied their kicking game and kept their shape and composure for the full 80 minutes while the Taniwha were as much a self-destructive force and danger to themselves as the hosts.
The stats at halftime were telling.
Metres gained were 289 for Tasman to Northland's 61 and the Taniwha made 56 tackles to the Mako's three. Tasman beat 15 defenders and Northland just three and made 11 offloads while the Taniwha made six.
Just as Northland began their ascendancy in the second quarter through two well-worked tries to Matt Matich and Jaycob Matiu, the momentum swung back in Tasman's favour.
A looping pass on the right wing by replacement Northland halfback Lisati Milo-Harris was intercepted and his Tasman counterpart Noah Hotham scooted nearly 50 metres to score.
Two more Mako tries followed.
Despite missing All Blacks stars Leicester Fainga'anuku, Tyrel Lomax, David Havili, Sevu Reece, Finlay Christie, Will Jordan and Shannon Frizell, others - in particular Willy Havili - executed their kicks beautifully and positioned themselves in the right areas of the field.
Before Saturday's match, Tasman had won nine of their 12 games against Northland and did not look like losing at Trafalgar Park on a beautiful day.
Northland have now slipped to fifth in the Evens conference and must win their remaining two games, preferably with bonus points— against Bay of Plenty on Wednesday and Manawatū on October 2 — to have any chances of qualifying for the playoffs.