Northland Premier rugby: Too little, too late for Wellsford

Mid Northern halfback Dan Potter waits for the ball to spit out the back of a scrum during his side's win over Wellsford. Photo / Imran Ali

Jordan Olsen is right on both fronts. Firstly, there’s no room for complacency at this stage of the Tyrepower Northland Premier club rugby competition for the top-seeded teams and secondly, a loss can put any of the top four teams out of the qualifying places, given the congested points table.

The Mid Northern skipper was happy with his team’s 38-24 win over hosts Wellsford over the weekend but put a question mark over their performance, especially in the second half when the home side threatened to cause a boilover, despite being down by four converted tries at the break.

Two crucial mistakes by former All Black Rene Ranger in the first half, coupled with a player in the bin, summed up a messy opening spell for Wellsford. Ranger’s clearance kick from inside the Wellsford 22 was charged down by Mid Northern No 8 Jacob Coleman, who managed to gather the ball and dot down.

On another occasion, the ball slipped from Ranger’s grasp on his way to the tryline. Mid Northern’s first try in just the second minute came off a loose pass from Ranger that was scooped up and wing Kiwi Duncan bolted down the left flank before flinging an inside pass to hooker Valance Yates to score.

Everything that could go wrong for Wellsford did go wrong. To the small crowd that gathered on a pleasant afternoon of running rugby, the game seemed over at halftime with the scores reading 38-3 in favour of the visitors.

When first five Tamatea Winiana was sent to the naughty chair for a deliberate tap down soon after halftime, Olsen barrelled over from close range and Wellsford’s gameplan looked very much like going totally up the spout. But something sparked in their attack. Wellsford hoed in at the breakdown and started playing at a pace that caught Mid Northern napping a wee bit.

Wellsford’s kicks for touch found their mark, there was better sync between the backs and forwards and more clarity about what they wanted to do and how to get there. Wing Matthew McCabe managed to keep his foot away from touch in a tackle and from multiple pick and go moves, blindside flanker Brady Foster touched down to start Wellsford’s long-overdue revival.

Hikurangi halfback James Witehira scoots off from a ruck but couldn't help his side win over Old Boys Marist. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Sage Walters-Hansen scored Wellsford’s second not long after when he dragged Mid Northern lock Matthew Edwards over the tryline. The tenacity Walters-Hansen showed was a prelude to what was coming Mid Northern’s way. He bagged his second and something radical had to change in the way the visitors were defending to hold onto their lead right to the end.

“Happy with the win but not the performance. A little bit to work on there. They played on top and we knew they could play like that. I was a bit disappointed how long it took for us to respond to that pressure from them,” Olsen said.

“But that last 10 minutes, we managed to hold them out. We wanted more of the same in the second half. That’s what we talked about at halftime but obviously, we got a little bit complacent there and it just didn’t go our way. Wellsford definitely came back very well and put a lot of pressure on us.

“The top of the table is very tight, it can change very quickly. We’ll take each week as it comes and hopefully, we can be there at the business end. There’s always a bit of a target on your back when you’re the defending champs but we try not to think about it too much.”

Mid Northern are a side that loves to play at pace and stretch the opposition defence and Olsen says when it works, it’s an enjoyable brand of rugby but when it doesn’t, it can land his side in trouble.

Olsen is enjoying his time back in the Taniwha fold after sitting out last season’s NPC campaign.

OBM lock Trevor Attwood secures a lineout ball against Hikurangi in Whangārei on Saturday. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Wellsford coach/player Ross Wright was left to rue the missed opportunities in the first half.

“We didn’t start as we had wanted to. We weren’t direct. I guess the forwards didn’t really turn up, the attitude of the boys in the first 20 to 30 minutes wasn’t up to standard. We tried to rectify that at halftime by trying to give the boys bit of a rev-up, which worked but it was too late,” Wright said.

“We made a few errors which they capitalised on and we never managed to turn it around in that first half. We got a couple of tries and we realised how easy it was and how much it could have worked if we had got it right from the start.

“After a couple of tries, the attitude was up, we were keen but it was a little bit too late. With four away games left, I wouldn’t say our season is over but it would be pretty hard to get into the top four, I’d say.”

Mid Northern and Kamo are the joint leaders on the table but the former have bagged more points. The Western Sharks slipped to third position after losing 22-18 to Ngāti Hine Moerewa on Saturday, while Hora Hora are fourth.

In the other matches played over the weekend, Kamo beat Hora Hora 38-17, Marist Old Boys thumped Hikurangi 40-15, and Kerikeri won over Waipū 34-26.

The results in the B Division games were Otamatea 14-Mid Northern 14, Western Sharks 77-Kerikeri 12, Hora Hora 22-Waipū 17, Wellsford 31-OBM 3.

The last round of Premier rugby is on July 8.