Nelson Bays learn from earlier hiding

Counties go into tomorrow's second-division semifinal knowing they humbled Nelson Bays first time round this season.

Counties exploited the defending champions' errors to the full in round robin play to win 42-33.

It's a result that still has Nelson Bays captain Gavin Briggs smarting, and the "embarrassing" loss to Wanganui last week has only ratcheted up the feeling.

"We just weren't there against Wanganui and I think a lot of it comes down to complacency really," Briggs said.

"We've just got to bounce back. We realise it is a one-off game and if we don't win there's no next week for us."

Eliminating the errors that tripped them up had been a priority.

"That's one thing that [coaches] Wayne [Love] and Bevan [Cadwallader] have been working on - just making sure that everyone's clear that if it breaks down, we've just got to reset and start again and just keep doing so.

"It may take 40 or 60 minutes but sooner or later something will come off and we'll get what we're after.

"We're not as big but we have to play to our strengths and stick together as a unit and make the most of our opportunities."

All Black wing Rico Gear will play his third match for Nelson Bays at centre.

Despite their win this season, Counties are well aware of Nelson's abilities.

The southerners have featured in at least the semifinals in the past seven seasons and two years ago eliminated Counties in the semis.

"They are a proven finals side, but we have set high expectations of ourselves and know we are still capable of further improvement," said Counties coach Mark Carter.

"[Our] players have shown a lot of commitment this year, and that really came through at Manawatu where they got through a very physical contest, and aimed in defence to shut them out.

"That was very satisfying, as was the accuracy that we showed in our set pieces, but playing Nelson Bays will be a step up again."

The game will be captain Lee Lidgard's 100th for Counties Manukau. The former New Zealand Maori prop will return to club rugby in Italy at the end of the NPC.

In the other semifinal today, Hawkes Bay, the only unbeaten side in the entire NPC, meet North Otago at McLean Park in Napier.

North Otago are the odd one out of the four - being the only team that will remain in the lower division while the other three and Manawatu, who finished sixth in the competition, will be playing in the new premier division next season.

- NZPA