Lemalu back to haunt Taniwha

Former Taniwha prop Simon Lemalu enjoyed his return to Northland last night as his  Counties-Manukau side flogged the Taniwha 37-21 in their Air New Zealand Cup clash at Okara Park.
The former Whangarei Marist player led the way by scoring two tries as the visitors ran out five tries to two winners, earning just their second win of the season.
It was a win that Counties had planned for by resting some of their players during last weekend's 19-62 thumping by Wellington, so they could be fit for tonight's match.
"It was a plan, we rested some of our older players so we were able to target a win in this game and it was pretty satisfying for us to carry that through tonight," said Lemalu.
Players like Lemalu, Tasesa Lavea and veteran loosie DJ Forbes led the way as the visitors did the basics right and the rest fell into place for them.
"All credit to the boys, we've worked hard for this all year - we're halfway through the season now and we're finding our feet and what's working for us so hopefully we'll be able to win another couple of games from here," Lavea added.
The Counties captain said they still had to work on their discipline but Northland, unlike some of the Super 14 sides, were unable to punish them for their errors in the match.
Northland, after earning praise for their defence in last week's draw against Southland, were unable to match it this week and their attack was equally impotent against a Counties side with their tails up.
Northland captain Jared Payne was distraught as he reflected how poorly his side had performed as a unit.
"Once again, we fronted for five minutes at the beginning of the game and I dropped the ball over the line, then it went downhill from there.
"It's really disappointing for the supporters, who've come out again tonight, they're being loyal, but we're just not doing our part."
Payne knocked on in the act of scoring in the fifth minute and for the rest of the spell, the game went Counties' way. In the 10th minute Sherwin Stowers highlighted some  problems in the Taniwha defence by stepping his way through a crowded 22m to score. Five minutes later Lemalu grabbed his first by fooling the defenders with a huge dummy pass before fending off Payne to score.
Munro added two penalties for Northland to be in touch 9-14 at the break.
Counties got the better start in the second half.
After Tim Nanai-Williams had kicked a penalty, Lemalu grabbed his second try.
He ran 15m from the front of the line-out to score a try that silenced the crowd of around 2500 on the embankment.
Northland coach Bryce Woodward played his trump card by bringing on David Holwell - but the forwards couldn't retain possession for long enough to build pressure against Counties.
It was no surprise when Lelia Masaga used his speed to score the bonus-point try.
Northland's Mikaele Tuu'u grabbed a good try in the 70th minute but any thoughts of Northland getting something out of the match were cut short by a Lavea intercept try with less than five minutes to go.
Lachie Munro showed the value of quick ruck ball, when he scored from a blindside move and then converted to complete the scoring.
Northland 21 (M Tuu'u, L Munro tries; Munro 3 pen, 2 con)
Counties-Manukau 37  (S Stowers, S Lemalu (2), L Masaga, T Lavea; Tim Nanai-Williams 2 pen, 3 con). Halftime: 9-14.