Northland blow chances for win

Dean Budd's last-gasp attempt to beat Canterbury saw the ball knocked from his grasp as he dived over the line, leaving Northland defeated 23-27.
Budd couldn't hide his disappointment after the game at having come so close to taking the points, but it was Lachie Munro who summed up what the team were feeling.
"We can't be happy with this sort of result any more, we've shown now that we can compete with any team in the competition but if we keep on playing the bridesmaid, we're going to miss out on our goal," he said.
"We want to be top seven and it's just so disappointing to not quite get there. That's three games that we've let slip like that now and that's not good enough."
Northland were outclassed by Canterbury in the first spell. Starved of possession and territory, they conceded three first half tries as their reshuffled outside defence was found wanting.
Down 21-6 with five minutes to play in the first spell, Taniwha prop Bronson Murray finally got over the tryline to give the big Whangarei crowd something to cheer about and a late Munro penalty saw them back in the game at halftime, trailing 21-16.
Northland had more ball in the second half and the game evened up, stretching from end-to-end, as their brand of attacking rugby started to make ground.
The Taniwha lost momentum after lock Pat O'Connor was sinbinned. The Northland defence held but Andy Ellis popped over a drop goal with referee Mike Fraser playing advantage.
When O'Connor came back, the tables were turned as Canterbury skipper George Whitelock was binned for slowing the ball. Cam Eyre benefited from the numerical advantage by grabbing an uncontested lineout throw and powering over the line for his first ITM Cup try. With the conversion, Northland closed to within one point but couldn't break the Canterbury defence and when the visitors broke upfield, Stephen Brett calmly slotted a drop-goal to push them out to a four point lead. .
Northland threw everything at Canterbury and it almost paid off when another drive for the line by Murray was halted inches short. From the ruck Dean Budd spotted a chance in the corner but the ball was knocked from his hand. Northland had one last play to rescue the game but Rhyan Caine threw a wild pass at David Holwell, who wasn't expecting it and the game was over.
Northland captain Jared Payne was upset.
"We've trained for that a lot, we've got a set-play for that sort of situation and talked about it a lot, but the boys didn't click and we screwed it up, so it's pretty disappointing. Some of our key decision-makers have to sharpen up because we can't afford to keep losing close games," he said.
The Canterbury skipper said given their build-up for the match, with last week's earthquake adding to their injury problems, he was pleased with the result.
"It's been a tough week for us. All we wanted to do was come up here and win and we've done that, so we're happy enough," Whitelock said.
Northland coach Bryce Woodward said it was a strange experience for many of the Northland team after the match.
"People kept coming up to them congratulating them after the game and saying how well they'd done to go so close to Canterbury, and it was strange for the boys, because they were really feeling miserable about losing, " he said.
Northland can be happy with the way they came back into the game and also the way their set-piece - particularly their scrum - competed on even terms. Northland 23 (B Murray, C Eyre tries; Munro 3 pen, 2 con) Canterbury 27 (R Fruean, L Romano, I Ross; S Brett 3 con, d-goal, A Ellis d-goal).