After trailing Otaua 28-4, the Kaikohe Lions roared to life in the final 20 minutes of their Whangarei City and Districts Rugby League round five match to triumph 40-28.
"It must have been that awesome talk I gave the boys at halftime," Kaikohe coach Benson Selwyn quipped.
"It came down to heart
in the end - and fitness was a huge telling point, Otaua really dropped out of it in the last 20 when we lifted."
Otaua started strongly on Saturday at their home ground, limiting their visitors' opportunities and creating their own.
But as fatigue took over the hosts, Kaikohe, found another gear and outran the Otaua defence, hitting them hard with a barrage of tries to close the gap and then overtake them by 12 points. Prop Anthony Stillwell - another Kaikohe Lion playing his first season of league - and halfback Haki Henry stood out, playing solidly for 80 minutes in front of a large crowd of around 300, Selwyn said.
The Otaua and Kaikohe under-17s played the curtain raiser to the senior match, with Kaikohe just sneaking past Otaua to win 32-30. As regional representative age group sides have been reinstated this year, these clubs are trying to promote the game and prepare their under-15s and under-17s for the upcoming Northland trials later this year.
In other senior games over the weekend, Hokianga hosted Takahiwai, and the teams, who each had three wins and a loss heading into the clash, battled out a tough match which could have gone either way.
Takahiwai had a halftime lead of 18-16 and after the break, Hokianga took the lead, with Buddy Gray dotting down the ball, before Takahiwai fought back with two tries in a row. The visitors eventually won, 42-28.
At Dargaville, Hikurangi comfortably defeated the hosts, 38-8, running away with the match in the second half, while Moerewa had a win over Bay Slayers, 36-22 in a hotly contested game.
City Knights' short winning streak came to an end when they hosted Portland at Otangarei, with the increasingly confident Panthers coming away with a deserved 46-18 victory on the back of their first win of the season last weekend, when they defeated Bay Slayers, at Portland.
