Gritty Mid Northern upset Hora Hora

Mid Northern halted Hora Hora's march towards the playoffs - momentarily at least - with a well-earned 20-15 victory at Hora Hora Park.
The visitors were made to work hard for their four points, with the game very much in the balance until a long-range try by makeshift winger Kadin Te Nana gave them the breathing space they needed with about five minutes still left on the clock.
Uncharacteristically, the Hora Hora forwards failed to clear out in a maul in Mid Northern's 22 and the visitors stole possession, finding Te Nana unmarked on the blindside. The winger - who started the match in his normal halfback role - showed great pace to outstrip the Hora Hora cover and score.
But while Te Nana probably earned a few free drinks at the clubrooms after the game, an ankle tap by Jershon Witehira a few minutes earlier was responsible for halting a certain Hora Hora try that could well have changed the result of the game.
Trailing 8-12, Hora Hora chanced their arm by throwing the ball around in their own 22m zone. New Northland lock Mark Burmin - in his first game for the club - showed great pace for a lock and took off through a gap, linking up with Luke Voss whose clever inside pass set Leon Baigent free for the line. But the Mid Northern fullback gambled with a despairing dive and it paid off.
It was just the break Mid Northern needed and they quickly had the ball upfield for Holwell to kick his fifth penalty of the match before Hora Hora launched another attack at them.
The visiting forwards halted Hora Hora's menacing rolling maul a metre from their line. The home side launched more attacks that were also repulsed before they got the turnover that led to Te Nana's try.
In a game that never really flowed, largely due to the hard-hitting defence and the resulting high error count, it was a treat for the crowd to see such an action-packed final 10 minutes. The match was completed by a Hora Hora consolation try by Mark Bennett.

 Mid Northern skipper Buster Tahere was mostly relieved his side had managed to edge past Hora Hora  on their home turf.
"They're a good team and a good forward pack and we knew we had to stand up against them today and I can't complain with the way the boys achieved that," he said.
"We dug deep when we had to, most teams crumble under pressure from Hora Hora - especially on your line - but we stuck together and held them out."
The win means Mid Northern are still in the running for a home semifinal but the Hukerenui side still  have two tough games ahead of them with the Western Sharks visiting next week and then Kamo away in the last round.
It was a frustrating day for Hora Hora skipper Warren Dunn, who had another top game in the midfield but even he wasn't immune to the occasional handling error.
"Not to take anything away from a strong Mid Northern side, but we've only got ourselves to blame  - handling errors, silly mistakes and our discipline cost us too many penalties given away and if you do that  against Dooley [David Holwell] he'll slot them every time," Dunn said.
Earlier, the home crowd were treated to a great individual try by one of the local favourites, Troy Woodman.
The Northland winger showed his power  in pushing off his opposite  to sprint to the line midway through the first spell, although Mid Northern still led 9-8 at the break.