Northland thank better half

A fine second-half performance saw Northland Maori beat Bay of Plenty 30-25 to lift the Northern Regional Maori senior trophy for the first time in 13 years  at Old Boys Rugby Club on Saturday.
The victory looked  unlikely with the Bay controlling the game in the first spell. They played well into a stiff southeasterly, scoring three tries as their forwards dominated proceedings, giving their backs good front foot ball and allowing them to punch holes in the Northland midfield to put the locals on the back foot.
The Northland side started well but were unable to control the ball for much of the first 40 minutes. They wasted the scant possession they had with basic errors and were often muscled off the ball in the clean out and the ruck.
Their tactical kicking gave them a share of territory  but  they had some off-target place kicking by the visitors to thank for only trailing 3-17 at half-time.
The halftime break allowed Northland to regroup and coach Laurie Davies stressed that the Bay forwards were already tiring. He changed the point of attack from out wide to closer to the ruck.
"I told them that they needed to change into top gear and take control of the match and that's what they did," Davies said.
Northland knew they had to start well and they did. Hunia Kingi replaced Wade Adolf at halfback and Ateri Davis took over for skipper Gary Whippy at tighthead prop and the double switch  soon paid off.
A quick tap from a penalty by Kingi caught the Bay off guard and saw winger Iwi Hauraki and hooker Alan Nisbet go close. Unlike the first spell, Northland retained possession of the ball and recycled it neatly for flanker Robbie Murray to bust over and score.
The Bay first five-eighth added a drop goal to make it 8-20 before Ross Wright scored the solo try of the match receiving the ball outside the Bay 22m line and smashing his way through four would-be tacklers to touch down and bring his team back into range of a converted try at 13-20.
Northland were on top and the Bay players began to fall off tackles and show poor discipline. Midway through the spell, Northland first five-eighth Cass Walding broke the line linking with Hauraki, whose flick inside was caught by Toby Phillips to level scores at 20-all .
Northland were in control of the final quarter but the Bay held firm until Maihi Brown crashed over with 10 minutes to go and then Jack Tango put the game out of reach of the Bay with another try with just four minutes remaining.
The Bay showed their spirit to grab a late try to make the final score 30-25 but it was the Northland side who celebrated the victory long into the night.