Waikato 38 Northland 7
A grim few weeks lie ahead for Northland after a third successive beating, but Waikato coach Warren Gatland offered a glimmer of hope.
He reckoned the 31-point winning margin was not a fair reflection of Northland's efforts.
"It took us a long time to wear them
down, but in the end I think we got on top in the forwards," he said.
"In particular, I think our set pieces went very well and laid the platform. Our scrums were good and our lineouts, in particular, very effective."
Gatland thought Northland were lacking confidence.
"I think it is a real confidence thing for them now. It is a very tough competition and it won't get any easier.
"I was a bit surprised with the score today in the end, because we played and lost to Northland pre-season and I thought they played quite well.
"But that confidence seems to be missing now."
Northland coach Bruce Hodder was unhappy with what he saw.
"I thought we played 30 or 35 minutes of good rugby. That about sums it up," he said.
"Our scrum did not go well, which put ourselves under pressure and at lineout time a lot of what is happening is bad options.
"We only had two lineouts in the first half and both times we chose options I would not have chosen."
* A late penalty by Murray Williams had Bay of Plenty breathing easier last night after their opening NPC win, 18-17, over Taranaki.
Captain Wayne Ormond and second five-eighth Grant McQuoid both scored fine individual tries but when Chris Masoe ran through a giant hole in the Bay defence late in the game to put Taranaki two points clear it looked grim.
Then halfback Chris Fevre infringed and Williams did the rest.
