First-five Rivez Reihana was a standout for Northland. Photo / Getty Images
First-five Rivez Reihana was a standout for Northland. Photo / Getty Images
Northland can add “the art of closing out games” to their work-ons after Friday’s shambles against Manawatū.
A team that hadn’t won a game in this year’s Bunnings Warehouse NPC before Friday snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Northland at the hooter. Manawatū also didn’t win a single game last year.
Their 31-30 victory in Palmerston North on Friday was their first NPC win since October 2021.
But all that counted for nothing when it mattered most. The way they went about their business caught Northland napping for pretty much all of the first half. They flew through the gates with clarity on what needed to be done and how everyone from 1 to 15 would respond.
Northland perhaps didn’t expect the sheer physicality and upfront dominance from the hosts that allowed them to score four tries in the opening stanza.
Being able to dominate territory and possession yielded Manawatū not just the buffer they needed at halftime but also a psychological advantage. The plan was to retain the playbook that served them so well in the opening 40.
The Turbos were acutely aware that Northland would fight their way back as the game wore on. The Taniwha did just that in the second half, but it was the Turbos who landed the sucker punch with time up on the clock. This was red-hot stuff.
Northland needed to hold on to the ball with just 30 seconds to go. They then needed to wind the clock down with a couple more phases and guard their ruck like a crime scene.
Northland's Matt Moulds (left) and Heremaia Murray look on from the sin bin after both receiving yellow cards. Photo/ Getty Images
The Taniwha were in the right part of the field. Instead, they turned the ball over and into the hands of powerhouse Tima Fainga’anuku on the left wing. He flicked a beautifully timed pass to former New Zealand Sevens speedster Beaudein Waaka on the outside and the Turbos powered their way towards Northland’s 22.
Centre Kyle Brown who was brought down inside the 22 in a despairing tackle by halfback Lisati Milo-Harris. Waaka looped back to play halfback while the referee played an advantage to the Turbos. The ball changed hands from Jason Emery to Terrell Peita and the final pass saw skipper Brayden Iose dive over in the corner.
The stats are telling. In the first half, the Turbos had spent three minutes and 45 seconds in the opposition 22 to Northland’s one minute and 37 seconds. The hosts enjoyed 59 per cent possession and 60 per cent territory and conceded three penalties to Northland’s five.
Manawatū gained 226 metres while the Taniwha managed 152.
After the final hooter, time in the opposition 22 read a whopping 5:29 for Manawatū and 2:12 for the Taniwha. They make for grim reading but say a lot about the way the game finished.
Add into the mix sin-binnings for Heremaia Murray and Matt Moulds and Northland were on the ropes.
Fullback Josh Moorby’s failure to find touch from inside the Northland half on the stroke of halftime allowed the Turbos to open a nine-point lead.
College Old Boys rake Leif Keil-Schwenke bagged a brace of tries off rolling mauls, then TK Holden and a penalty try after Murray’s sin-binning took the Turbos into a 26-17 half-time lead.
First-five Rivez Reihana was a standout for Northland, constantly looking for space in behind and ducking and diving into gaps to put players away. He sparked Northland’s first try to Moulds and had a hand in the second by Lisati Milo-Harris.
Loose forward Jonah Mau’u was another standout with his all-round work across the park, both in attack and defence.
Northland’s scrum was such a powerful weapon and the impact off the bench meant they were on the way to notching their second win with time almost up.
Where this excruciating loss leaves Northland’s season is hard to tell, but it’s a fair bet the team will need to win their remaining matches to have any chance of replicating last year’s feat.
They needed to nail the door shut on Southland (draw) and Manawatū (loss), in particular, and those results may come back to haunt them at the tail end of the competition.
The Taniwha return home to face Hawke’s Bay on Friday.
