Northland have beaten Otago 20-17 in a pulsating round five ITM Cup match at Toll Stadium, Whangarei.
Otago lost captain Eben Joubert in the 7th minute, who came off with a knee injury.
Tony Brown opened the scoring after ten minutes with a penalty, before LachieMunro evened things up in similar fashion three minutes later.
Munro then doubled his points tally with another penalty on 15 minutes.
A Buxton Popoalii burst of pace two minutes later lead to Otago's first dangerous attacking phase. TJ Ioane took the pick-and-go and pushed through for the first try of the match.
Northland captain Joel McKenty was awarded a try in the 33rd minute as the first half looked like fizzling out. Munro converted for the third time to push Northland 13-10 ahead at half-time.
It took 12 minutes for Otago to hit back in the second half. Popoalii again set up the Otago move, beating one man before offloading. Kees Meeuws picked the ball up from the ruck and crossed over for his 5th ITM Cup try. Tony Brown converted the try.
The score continued to swing back and forth and Munro, who was prolific throughout with the boot, scored a fantastic Northland team try on the hour mark.
Rene Ranger burst through the Otago defence after a chip-kick by Moeke, but the play looked to have come to nothing in the corner. Northland kept the momentum going by shuttling the ball out to the right and Munro dived over to score. He converted his own try to edge Northland ahead 20-17.
The last ten minutes saw both teams battling it out in a thrilling finale, but Northland's defence held firm for the victory.
