Rugby: Sweetest of days for proud Northland coach

Derren Witcombe.

Taniwha coach Derren Witcombe has picked up the biggest win of his coaching career in beating Wellington 35-5 at Toll Stadium, joining a small group of Northland coaches to beat Wellington.

The last Northland head coach to beat Wellington was Witcombe's technical adviser Bryce Woodward, who was with Witcombe in the coaches' box back in 2000.

After Saturday's game Witcombe could be seen wandering around the Toll Stadium field obviously enjoying the moment, and watching his players swamped by supportive fans.

However, while proud of his achievement, Witcombe said seeing the pure joy on all the supporters' faces played a big part in his enjoyment of the ITM Cup victory.

"That win was massive not only for us, but for our province to get people to keep believing in what we're doing [with picking Northland club rugby players]. It's amazing how something like that [win] makes so many people happy.

"It is not only important to the [people of the] province but for [the team] moving forward. The guys know they can beat anyone going forward and that's huge for us."

In relation to joining a select bunch of people to coach Northland to victories over Wellington, Witcombe put it simply in saying it is all part of the job.

"It's pretty wicked. It's an honour first and foremost to do what I am doing as a job, so I'm pretty privileged to work with a team who knocked off one of New Zealand's top four teams - so I'm pretty proud of the boys."

Witcombe, though, was quick to deflect the praise and instead chose to look ahead.

If Wellington was not a big enough scalp to claim, this week the Taniwha have the chance to knock over an in-form Canterbury side.

"[Saturday] was a bit of a sign the culture is changing, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves ... we're stoked and enjoyed the win but now we're pretty content on backing that up, which is going to be a challenge but it's that self belief.

"We know we can do it but we've got to back it up."

One thing Witcombe credits for the convincing performance on the weekend is the fans.

He said if it was not for the Northland people supporting him and his team, circumstances may have been different.

"It definitely helps our guys and they love performing in front of the home crowd, they thrive on it and that definitely helped our guys."

On that note Witcombe encouraged more Northlanders to get down to Toll Stadium for the next home game, a Friday night match against Hawke's Bay on September 5.