Sevens: Northland clinch shield at Bayleys National Sevens

Northland's Scott Gregory drops the high ball as his side secured the Shield with a 31-19 win over Southland at the Bayleys National Sevens tournament in Rotorua. Photo / Getty Images

Northland have overcome a spirited Southland side to clinch the shield at the Bayleys National Sevens tournament in Rotorua.

The eventual victors held a 19-0 lead at the break but Southland put in a courageous second spell effort to draw close and outscore Northland three tries to one.

But the 19-point advantage proved too much to overcome as Northland held firm to win the tie 31-19.

The likes of captain Whiria Meltzer, Scott Gregory and Hayden Jurlina were all in top form during the tournament, helping their province to a piece of silverware.

Coach Peter Nock said he was happy with how the side responded after a rough start to the tournament.

"We were disappointed with how we went early in the tournament and knew we had to get the level of performance up and we knew we were better than where we were," he said.

"It showed a lot about our mana and character in how we came back on the second day.

"To be fair we scored straight after the half [in the final] so we brought our bench on to give them a run and we knew they would hold them out.

"Southland came back, as teams usually do in sevens, but the boys showed ticker out there and that was proven with our last try when we finally got ball in hand."

Earlier on day two, Northland comfortably accounted for Wanganui 38-12 in the shield semifinal but they hadn't been in good form up until that point.

The Taniwha had struggled on day one of the competition, picking up just the solitary win over Southland. There were losses to Wellington (26-5), Tasman (24-5) and Otago (24-0).

Nock said the team stuck together well and showed fight to finish where they did with a few players standing out.

"Hayden [Jurlina] was a real workhorse. Tavite [Gadeisuva] was really solid. Whiria was great on and off the field. It was a real team effort, they played hard for each other," he said.

"Tim Blundell, even though he played bugger all, what a team man he is. What he did for the team was unbelievable but he only got through 20 minutes on the field.

"It was the most enjoyable campaign I've been involved in. We came here for the right reasons, didn't put too much pressure on everyone and made sure we enjoyed ourselves.

"We wanted the players to express themselves. Sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn't."