The Northland Taniwha went into overdrive and powered their way to victory over the Manawatū Turbos at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei on Saturday, as the visitors struggled to gain traction in the wet weather.
Hurting from their first-round loss to Canterbury, the Taniwha got the job done with a 35-18 bonus point win in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC clash in front of a sparse turnout in the side’s first home game on Saturday.
In what was a perfect a way to celebrate Club Day, the Taniwha gave valuable game time to promising youngsters hewn from Northland’s hinterland. Debutant Nathan Salmon must have celebrated long into the night after receiving an inside pass from centre Tevita Latu and beating the Manawatū defence on the outside to get the bonus point try in the corner.
While there were scenes of delirium in the Taniwha camp, there was no such celebration for the Northland Kauri, who lost to a strong Bay of Plenty side 12-26 in the Farah Palmer Cup.
Taniwha players were able to sustain more attack off the back of their kicking game and were able to capitalise off the back of Manawatū’s mounting handling errors.