Rugby: A happy face on Ranger farewell

Tomorrow's match against Bay of Plenty will be Northland captain Rene Ranger's final game for the region before taking up a contract in France. Photo / Ron Burgin

The challenge has been set to Northlanders, pack out Toll Stadium tomorrow to give Rene Ranger a top send off.

Northland take on Bay of Plenty tomorrow at 5.35pm in the final game of the season, which will also be Ranger's last match on home soil before heading to France to take up a reported $600,000 contract at Montpellier.

To commemorate the occasion, the Northland Rugby Union has linked up with die-hard fan Gary Younger and produced 750 Rene Ranger facemasks. However, NRU chief executive officer Jeremy Parkinson hoped that 750 would not be enough masks.

Parkinson said tomorrow's match would be looked at as a bit of a "party" for the 27-year-old centre.

"It'll be a party at Rene Ranger's house, with his home being Toll Stadium," he said. "Obviously he will be a big loss to us, but we wish him well.

"Rene epitomises everything about Northland, and it's the career path the NZRU want, which is anybody can grow up anywhere in New Zealand and play for a Tomarata and then a Wellsford and then Northland, and then the Blues and the All Blacks."

While Ranger's loss is huge for Northland, Parkinson was upbeat about the possibilities of having him come back and play for region after his time with Montpellier.

"He does have aspirations to come back and finish his career off here," he said. "There's not too many who have turned down the black jersey [for Northland], he has showed good values in turning down the black jersey to support his family."

Meanwhile, the Taniwha will be hoping to keep the pressure on after pushing Otago well into the final 10 minutes during the 31-21 loss on Wednesday night at Toll Stadium.

Otago scraped their way to a bonus point victory over championship battlers Northland to retain some hope of gaining a home semifinal. With just a four-day break since their last ITM Cup game, and facing the powerful Auckland side in their final encounter, Otago benched some leading players including goalkicking ace Hayden Parker.

They only confirmed their 31-21 victory with a driving try in the 79th minute.

Northland 21 (Sonatane Takulua, Ross Wright, Robbie Abel tries; Daniel Hawkins 3 con)
Otago 31 (Scott Manson, Matt Faddes, Jayden Spence, TJ Ioane tries; Peter Breen 2 pen, Hayden Parker con, pen) Halftime: Otago 8-0.

Party at Rene Ranger's house
Northland v Bay of Plenty, Toll Stadium, tomorrow, 5.35pm.