Rugby: Work to do on breakdown, defence

Taniwha winger Jone Macilai proved himself match fit, having recovered from a foot injury, and crossed the line for a try during the Northland side's 55-35 pre-season loss to Waikato. Photo / Getty

Northland have just seven days left to iron out any creases before their first ITM Cup match of the season against Hawke's Bay this Sunday.

The side went down 55-35 to Waikato in a pre-season clash in Silverdale last Friday. Head coach Richie Harris said work around his side's defensive outputs would be a key focus at training this week - especially after blowing a 21-0 lead in the first quarter to scrape into the halftime break trailing 21-26. "Things that we hadn't covered we got exposed a bit on," Harris said.

"Work-ons would be around breakdown and defence. We haven't done too much on either.

"We haven't done anything on defending a lineout drive and I think they scored three from lineout drives," he added.

One promising element of the Taniwha pre-season preparation was an exciting brand of attacking rugby becoming apparent under the tactical guidance of Harris and assistant coach Dale Macleod.

"We were intent on getting our attack shape going and when we did get that going we scored points," Harris said.

"When we were doing things that we'd practised we were good.

"We looked good through set piece, looked good with ball in hand and played some really good rugby."

Another emerging aspect of the Northland game was the strength and ability coming out of the front row.

Howard Sililoto and Dominic Robertson-McCoy fronted up well against Waikato powerhouse Ben Tamiefuna and despite Northland captain Matt Moulds being sent off for a precautionary scan on his wrist after a possible hyper-extension or sprain, depth doesn't appear to be a concern.

Northland will regather in Whangarei this week and a team to play Hawke's Bay for this weekend's Ranfurly Shield encounter will be announced on Thursday.

Waikato 55 (Damian McKenzie 2, Murray Iti, Whetu Douglas, Anton Lienert-Brown, Declan O'Donnell, Joe Webber, Hame Faiva, Luke Masirewa tries; McKenzie 5 cons) Northland 35 (Matt Moulds, Kurt Davies, Filipo Nakosi, Jone Macalai, Hayden McCaw tries; Dan Hawkins 3, Tyler Landsdowne 2 cons) HT: 26-21