Northland start well before frustration sets in

Northland started the 2010 National Sevens Tournament in wintry conditions at Queenstown's Recreation Grounds with a hiss and a roar against Wellington, only to go downhill from there.
The youthful and inexperienced Northland side were up against it from the outset of the competition, playing in a seriously tough pool alongside the capital boys, Manawatu and Hawke's Bay. But they took it to Wellington on Saturday, with their first match going into overtime.
Northland were up 14-0 at halftime but they had slipped back to trail Wellington 17-14 when the final hooter went.
They kept the ball alive however, and Matt Wright went into score a try off a Lachie Munro pass, winning their first match, 21-17, and setting the standard for the rest of the tournament, coach JT Thomas said.
"We played our best sevens in that two minutes of overtime - we executed patience - and were very excited to take that next step up," he said.
"In sevens you need to keep taking that step up and improving each game, but we didn't end up doing that."
After their initial victory, and despite displaying moments of flare, Northland failed to gel as a team against Manawatu going down 21-10, and to Hawke's Bay, 19-5.
Following their disappointing 32-14 loss to Southland in yesterday's  crossover matches, Northland picked themselves up to meet South Canterbury and win 52-7 to earn a spot against Tasman in the shield final, playing off for 13th. Frustration began to creep into the Northland camp as the team had earlier shown they were good enough to beat the likes of Manawatu, at last weekend's Bay of Plenty Provincial Championships, and as injury started to take
its toll on the side.
Wright (ankle), Brook Gilmore (knee) were stood down for the final, while Hunia Kingi, who struggled with a shoulder problem throughout the competition, was placed on stand-by and Sione Fonua (stomach bug) played on despite not being fully fit.
 Northland began the final with grit. Munro crossed the line and converted his own try in the opening minutes, showing the same finesse he played with throughout the tournament, before Tasman struck back.
A Tevita Kolomatangi try for Tasman put the southerners in the lead at halftime, but a breakaway from Luke Hamilton brought Northland back to 12-12 early in the second half.
Tasman took advantage of Northland's missed tackles and dominated the rest of the match, winning 26-12. It is the second consecutive year Northland has lost the shield final, and a monkey Thomas is keen to get off their back next year.
Disappointed at the below par performance of the Northland side, Thomas said there were no excuses.
"You only get one chance and we didn't use ours. We didn't play well as a team consistently for 14 minutes - or even seven minutes at a time. It is frustrating after the good lead up we had and the two months of preparation ... it has been a steep learning curve for us especially the younger players," he said.
Waikato were the overall winners of the tournament, after defeating Bay of Plenty 21-14 in a nailbiting grand final.
 Results: Cup quarterfinals: Counties-Manukau 22 Otago 5, Waikato 19 Hawke's Bay 7, Taranaki 7 Manawatu 0, Bay of Plenty 14 North Harbour 5.
Semifinals: Waikato 14 Counties-Manukau 0, Bay of Plenty 19 Taranaki 17.
Final: Waikato 21 (Frank Halai, Glen Robinson, Tim Mikkleson tries; Henry Speight 3 con) Bay of Plenty 14 (Adam McGarvey, Mathew Hodson tries; Ruki Tipuna 2 con). Halftime: 7-14.
Plate final: North Harbour 38 Hawke's Bay 19. Bowl final: Horowhenua-Kapiti 21 Auckland 15. Shield final: Tasman 26 Northland 12.