Rugby League: Canterbury coach wary of Northern upset

FOCUSED: Wai-Coa Bay Stallions' Yannis Mea fends off a few Northern Swords players during round five of the 2015 NZRL Premiership.PHOTO/NZME

If anyone should be prepared for the shifting sands of the NZRL National Premiership, it's Canterbury Bulls coach Darrell Coad.

Twelve months ago, his side seemed to have dipped out on a place in the final on a points differential countback, but a flurry of protests and counter-protests saw the third-placed Bulls take on fourth-placed Wai-Coa-Bay Stallions for the title, with the southerners eventually claiming honours.

Approaching the final round with what should be a routine victory over the winless Northern Swords at Toll Stadium in Whangarei tomorrow, Coad isn't ready to rule out the possibility of the home side causing an upset.

"Anything can happen," he said. "Come Monday we could be talking about something completely different.

"The Swords are never easy. Last year, we beat them quite convincingly down here, but we're travelling to them this time.

"It's their last game of the season and they have everything going for them.

"They want to test themselves against us and we realise all these factors. We have to train hard this week, so we're 100 per cent focused on the job or we will get turned over. We've come too far to fall at the last hurdle."

The Swords have been better than their bottom-of-the-table standing suggests and have been unlucky on a couple of occasions, losing 30-28 to Wellington only on a last-minute converted try during round four.

"Even though we haven't had a win yet, we're certainly rapt with where we are at," Northern Swords manager Edward Irving said.

"Obviously, Canterbury are the reigning champions and we're at the bottom of the table which is a big motivation for us. They put 100 points on the Northern Swords last year so we're certainly going in to win."

The Northern Swords host Canterbury 1.30pm at Toll Stadium tomorrow, with the final Trade of Origin match acting as the curtain-raiser at 11.30am.