LEAGUE - Takahiwai edge out Lions

It could have easily gone either way but in the end Takahiwai Warriors emerged from the Jubilee Park grand-final cauldron as Northland's top league club after a Jamie Erceg try, nine minutes from time, saw them edge out Kaikohe Lions 16-12.
The Lions' first-half performance was the key to the match's elevation to a thriller as they withstood an early battering from the Warriors to hold them to just a six-point halftime deficit. They surged back into contention early in the second spell with two tries, to take the lead.
The onus was then on Takahiwai to prove they had the qualities to be a championship side - and they did - coming from behind to win the 2008 title.
Jubilant Takahiwai captain Deane Tuhoro said he wasn't too concerned after Kaikohe struck early in the second spell but, as time went on, the pressure began to build.
"It almost took us the rest of the spell to get those points back and that shows how well Kaikohe played and how tough they were to break down, but we finally did it in the last few minutes," he said.
He paid tribute to his team's desire to win and the coaching staff, led by Mark Freeman.
"Our coach has been putting us through our paces by making us run laps every single day that we trained and, even though it was gruesome at the time, it's paid off for us now," he said.
With Tuhoro setting the pace, the Takahiwai forwards led the charge in the first spell but, although Takahiwai crossed the line a number of times, the Lions' defence was tenacious. The sheer amount of tackling finally had an effect, however, with Gary Cooper finding a gap in the tiring defence to score with 10 minutes remaining in the first spell.
Lions' skipper Woody Maihi looked like their best attacking weapon in the first half and proved to be just that in the second. In the fifth minute, he shot between a couple of forwards to put Hamuera Tohu through on the fullback and was on hand to receive the return pass to score under the posts.
Rocked by the try, Takahiwai conceded again when Lions' hooker Tane Ravelick forced his way over, under the posts.
The following period displayed the true quality of the two teams to the few neutral fans among the 300-strong crowd on Saturday. The match was played in steady rain, making the handling difficult but, following Ravelick's try, both teams completed their sets with a robotic regularity unseen previously in the match.
Para Murray's try from close range in the 25th minute broke the deadlock as he picked up the scraps from a defence pulled out of shape by a damaging Jacob Pitman-Smith run.
The final 15 minutes were frantic with both sides getting in position to score but it was Erceg who finished off another Warriors drive by forcing his way over the line.
"It was a lot closer than we thought it was going to be," Tuhoro said.
"If we hadn't given it everything they would have won the game."
Lions coach Jay Hepi congratulated Takahiwai for a great effort and said there was very little between the two teams.
"I didn't think there was that much dividing us really. This was the decider between us this year after we had both won a game each.
"But I think they've been the most consistent team this year and had prepared themselves well for the final, and full credit to them for the win," he said.
It wasn't just Takahiwai's forwards that did the job for them, their halves Nick Godfrey and Kane Freeman were clever throughout and centre Kopu Duvall was unlucky not score on more than one occasion. For Kaikohe, Tuffy Munro was again outstanding while loose forward Ken Paki's work rate both in attack and defence was phenomenal.
Takahiwai Warriors 16 (tries, G Cooper, P Murray, J Erceg; kicks, K Freeman 2) Kaikohe Lions 12 (tries, W Maihi, T Ravelick; kicks, W Maihi 2)