Taniwha to fight for top-two spot

The Northland Taniwha returned to training in Whangarei ahead of their ITM Championship match against North Harbour with clear intentions.

Saturday's must-win clash with Northland's closest rivals is the third to last game in the truncated competition, and it is one of the Taniwha's last opportunities to move up the ladder in a bid to finish in the division's top two places.

Following Northland's disappointing trip down south, where Northland lost to Wellington 43-19 in round eight and then to Canterbury on Sunday, going down 28-13 in Christchurch, the team and coaching staff sat down to assess their situation.

Right wing Lachie Munro said the team spoke about their  fourth place on the ladder and what they could do to help their chances of making the Championship final. "There is still a possibility to finish in the top two. There's a chance to finish ninth - or down in 14th depending on how well we play over the next few games," Munro said.

Manawatu and Hawke's Bay are first-equal on the Championship table, with Otago and Northland close behind in third and fourth, and Counties Manukau just one point below Northland in fifth spot. Spurred on by his Mid Western premier side's grandfinal win on Saturday, Munro's goal kicking and a try by Cam Goodhue saw the Taniwha leading Canterbury 0-13 early in the game with the bitterly cold wind behind them.

Canterbury went on to turn around a half time 10-13 deficit and used the elements to their advantage, to go on to dominate Northland in the second half and take the win.

"We had the wind behind us in the first had and we couldn't quite use it enough. We were lucky it dropped a bit in the second half. We know we can beat any team on our day but our execution wasn't clear enough on Sunday and but we didn't execute our game plan well enough, and they started to get a roll on and we couldn't stop them."

Looking forward to Saturday's game against North Harbour, Munro said his side need to lay down a clear game plan, and stick to it - plus have a bit of luck go their way. "North Harbour have gone all right at times, and they played extremely well against Southland last weekend going for the Ranfurly Shield. "It would have been incredible to be playing a Shield match on Saturday against North Harbour - and it's a bugger for them they lost ... we just want to get down

there and get a good win over them."

A win at Harbour would boost the side heading into their final matches against Hawke's Bay and Counties-Manukau, but for now Northland were taking one game at a time.

The team had their first proper training session yesterday at Kamo, after flying home from Christchurch earlier this week. They play North Harbour at Albany on Saturday,  kicking off at 5.35pm.

 -Adverse weather and airport closures has forced the postponement of the round 10 ITM Cup match between Otago and Manawatu, which was scheduled to be played at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium last night. The game will now be played on Tuesday at 7.35pm in Dunedin. Given that both teams are in the hunt for ITM Cup Championship final spots, the New Zealand Rugby Union agreed to move the Championship Final to September 4 at 5.30pm. The ITM Cup Premiership final

will be played as scheduled on September 3, 7.35pm kickoff.