News

Northland shock Waikato

Thursday 31st July 2008

At last: Northland ended their nine-year duck against Waikato

It's taken them nearly ten years to do it, but Northland have finally beaten Waikato 18-10 in their opening game of the Air New Zealand Cup at Okara Park in Whangarei on Thursday.

Northland had not beaten Waikato since 1999, but were made to work for their long-awaited win in miserable conditions.

The home side led the way throughout the match, but were left hanging on for dear life after Waikato threatened a comeback in the last ten minutes of the match.

The hosts spent much of the match on defence but defended stoutly and struck with a try in each half to topple opponents laden with Chiefs Super 14 talent.

Up 13-3 at half-time but playing into a strong wind in the second spell, Northland dug in and virtually sealed the result through a brilliant breakout try to full-back Jared Payne with 20 minutes remaining.

It was a gutsy performance from the northerners, who won all three of their pre-season matches.

Waikato had an edge in the forward exchanges and dominated more than 70 per cent territory but were guilty of sloppy ball retention at the tackle and of basic errors whenever they built pressure.

Full-back Dwayne Sweeney scored the visitors' only points of the first half with a 10th minute penalty but missed two others.

Northland pivot David Holwell kicked three from four shots at goal for an eight-point haul.

Ground conditions at Okara Park were surprisingly good given the wet weather to have struck the region this week but the wind made it difficult to play expansively.

Holwell and Sweeney traded penalties in the opening exchanges before an important Northland double midway through the first half - a Holwell penalty followed by a try to centre Leo Taliu.

Taliu cut back against the flow with perfect timing off a pass from midfield partner Aiden Dewes and dashed 40 metres to score.

It capped the best attacking move of the game, which began with a Holwell chip and chase from deep.

The game trudged on before Payne burst down the blindside on a 65 metre sprint from a scrum, which included a hand-off on opposite number Sweeney to score in the right corner.

Waikato finally crossed the whitewash with nine minutes remaining through replacement loose forward Sione Lauaki, who put his All Blacks axeing behind with a strong display of ball-carrying.

Sosene Anesi was denied another moments later when the winger was deemed to lack control in his grounding of the ball by the television match official in a close call.

The scorers:

For Northland:
Tries: Taliu, Payne
Con: Holwell
Pens: Holwell 2

For Waikato:
Try: Lauaki
Con: Sweeney
Pen: Sweeney

Northland: 15 Jared Payne, 14 ReneRanger/Damien Fakafanua, 13 Aiden Dewes/Rene Ranger, 12 Leo Taliu, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 David Holwell, 9 James Rodley, 8 Blair Urlich, 7 John Cocker, 6 Justin Collins (captain), 5 Marty Veale, 4 Dan Goodwin, 3 Bronson Murray, 2 Francis Smith, 1 Tony Coughlan.
Replacements: 16 Tyler Ashworth, 17 Justin Davies, 18 Roy Griffin, 19 Joel McKenty, 20 Brenton Helleur, 21 Derek Carpenter, 22 Damien Fakafanua/Mike Davis.

Waikato: 15 Dwayne Sweeney, 14 Sosene Anesi, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Roimata Hansell-Pune, 11 Tim Mikkelson, 10 Callum Bruce, 9 Malcolm Barnes, 8 Liam Messam (c), 7 Tom Harding, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Aled de Malmanche, 2 Oli Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Kalem Chan Boon, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 David Bason, 21 Trent Renata, 22 James Kamana/Jordan Smiler.

Referee: Steve Walsh
TMO: Ben Skeen