The winless Northern Swords premiers gave the Wai-Coa-Bay Stallions a scare at Puketawhero Park in Rotorua, Saturday, in much the same fashion as their narrow 30-28 loss to the Wellington Orcas in the previous round of the NZRL Premiership.
Despite leading the match against the Stallions 18-8 early in thesecond half, the Swords were unable to withstand an onslaught as the home side reared their hind legs and ran away to win 40-18.
Swords coach Jon Renes was pragmatic about the outcome.
"This week again showed how our team is growing," he said.
"In the first 60 minutes we stuck to what we have worked on this season; completions, possession and shape on defence. For two weeks in a row we have controlled the match, which goes to show that our improvement is not a fluke.
"Unfortunately we have yet to put in a full 80 minutes. On Saturday we lost our ebb and flow - with the quality of the National Competition you can't afford to do that [and] the Stallions showed this with 32 unanswered points."
Meanwhile, the Northern Swords 15s and 17s got their campaigns under way at the NZRL National Youth Tournament at Puketawhero Park in Rotorua yesterday.
Coming up against a well-versed Akarana Falcons team, the Swords 15s fell to a heavy 54-18 loss.
The scoresheet looked a tad more pleasing for the Swords 17s, however, they also recorded a loss, in the form of a 22-4 defeat to the Counties Manukau Stingrays.
The NZRL National Youth Tournament runs until Friday and is a breeding ground for players to make their mark.
In previous years it has launched pathways for Northlanders, such as James Fisher-Harris, Corey Harawira-Naera, Steel Kake and, more recently, Caleb Aekins.
Recent Warriors signing, Nathan Newton, also put his name on the radar at the 2014 tournament.
There are players in both the 15s and 17s that player scouts are also tracking the performance of. And on show at the tournament will be Northland referees Tane Kaiwai and Taylor Waenga.
For Kaiwai this will be his third national tournament while for 20-year-old Waenga it will be his first.
