Rugby: Northland Kauri rejoice, Taniwha disappointed at heavy loss

Northland wing Brady Rush ready to run into the tackle of Canterbury replacement Blair Murray at Semenoff Stadium. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The Northland Taniwha were probably the most generous of all Bunnings Warehouse NPC teams over the weekend, given the number of penalties and yellow cards they gave away in an excruciating opening-round loss at home.

Discipline has to be on top of the “not-to-do-list” when they play Taranaki at Semenoff Stadium on Wednesday. A truncated training and captain’s run are all the time the team has to fix what clearly was an unacceptable number of penalties against Canterbury on Saturday. After ameliorating a jittery start, the visitors came out firing on all cylinders in the second half for a deserved 43-11 win.

But there was no such disappointment for the Northland Kauri, as they humbled Otago 42-20 in the Farah Palmer Cup earlier on Saturday to sit in second position in the Championship.

In the curtain-raiser match on Saturday, the Northland Semco women’s development side secured a 45-27 win over Countries Manukau. The Taniwha couldn’t follow suit.

Those that opted to stay indoors than brave the cold at the stadium - and the shambles on the field in the second half - made the right call as it would have been too painful to see the Northland Taniwha utterly conspire against themselves to lose in the manner they did.

Northland Kauri first five Pohutukawa Kakara on the charge in their big win over Otago. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Brady Rush and Rene Ranger getting their marching orders exacerbated the woes for the home side. Exactly what purpose Northland were there to serve from that point on wasn’t easy to tell. Conceding nearly a dozen penalties in just the last quarter is criminal.

Referee Katsuki Furuse had as tough a night at the office as the Taniwha with the number of warnings he issued to Northland players and the number of advantages he had to play.

Sensing a numerical advantage and chronic ill-discipline by Northland, Canterbury went into overdrive while the Taniwha went into meltdown. Having the luxury of proven campaigners such as former All Blacks Ryan Crotty and Luke Romano, ex-England International Willi Heinz and Manasa Mataele was an added boost for Canterbury.

Northland flew through the gates with a try to Brady Rush in the eighth minute and it took Canterbury 34 minutes to reply through lock Tahlor Cahill. The Taniwha played with a steely resolve and their line speed on defence was impressive. Captain Matt Matich, Rob Rush and Jonah Mau’u were massive up front and were not afraid to put the shoulder in while defending their line.

There was plenty of ball-carrying grunt and hunger to go into the sheds with a healthy lead.

Canterbury struggled to get their game going, due in large part to the way Northland exerted pressure both in defence and attack. Halfback Sam Nock and wing Pisi Leilua were substituted for Lisati Milo-Harris and Rene Ranger respectively in the opening half.

Northland skipper Matt Matich offloads as Canterbury loose forward Tom Gardiner comes in with a tackle. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The Taniwha created a couple of prime scoring opportunities but unforced errors put paid to those efforts. The team were also guilty of forcing things a wee bit.

After both teams traded penalties in the second half, replacement Blair Murray struck first for Canterbury after stepping inside and dotting down despite despairing tackles of Rivez Reihana and Heremaia Murray.

Canterbury scored straight after Ranger was sent to the bin for slapping the ball down. Ben Funnell scored off a rolling maul to push the scores to 31-11. The next try was classic Canterbury rugby. After working the blindside, Blair Murray chipped ahead and beat Brady Rush to the ball in the corner for his second try.

“I thought we were doing good on defence, but it was just consistently letting them off the hook with the offsides and just not rolling away. It was way too many offsides,” Matich lamented.

“We were good in defence and then we were getting punished. That was a very hard 20 minutes with two yellows. They played the yellow cards very well. They pushed us side to side and that really took a lot of gas out of the boys. That is their game.

“They love to play set piece and we gave them 10 penalties in about 20 minutes. With the second yellow, you are missing two backs to try and defend that, it’s very difficult.”

In the second half, Matich said Northland needed to stick to what they did well in the opening stanza.

“We didn’t quite get our attack together in the first half but there was enough there to be happy about and in the second half we couldn’t get the ball because of the penalties. It was a long second half.

“We don’t have a lot of time, we pretty much got a training and a captain’s run before Taranaki. There are little fixes there to fix the attack and discipline on defence.”

The team was probably a little bit short of a gallop with only one preseason game, he said, which showed in the connections that weren’t right and the passes behind the back or dropped balls that ruined their opportunities.

Canterbury skipper Billy Harmon said a few tweaks in the second half got them home.

“In that first half they were getting a bit of momentum and were able to pick through us, so shutting that option made life a lot easier. They were pressuring our breakdown and they were picking through the middle because we were not slowing their ball down,” Harmon said.

“We were not getting the double shoulders in, so that was our focus and the boys came good in the second half.”

Harmon said it was exciting to see young guys put their hand up in the first round.

“The young guys are coming through, they are playing unbelievably well and then you can’t beat that experience with the likes of Crotty, Romano and Willie Heinz. Awesome to have that great combo.”

Northland take on Taranaki at 7.05pm this Wednesday while Canterbury play North Harbour in Auckland this Sunday.