North pay for 'awful' lineout

Northland coach Bryce Woodward says a wayward lineout cost his team any chance of pushing on to beat Hawke's Bay at McLean Park in Napier last night.
The home side continued their late-season run with a 25-13 win. The three-tries-to-one victory saw the Magpies and Northland swap places in the standings in ninth and 10th place respectively.
Northland led 10-8 at half-time but failed to build enough pressure to threaten Hawke's Bay in the second half with lineout and ruck turnovers costing them dearly.
"Our lineout was awful. It didn't operate as it should have so every time we got into good field positions we turned over the pill," a frustrated Woodward said.
Northland lost or were pulled up for at least six crooked line-outs - a staggering statistic in the context of the game.
"We thought we'd fixed it two weeks ago and we told them to go for the 'money' ball but they kept looking at other options so maybe they need to listen next time," Woodward added.
He said the match was a vital chance for Northland to remain in touch with the top-seven teams in the ITM Cup competition but the loss meant a top-seven place was now beyond them.
"We had to nail that one to have any chance but there's still pride and enjoyment to play for and ... some players will be out to get Super 15 contracts," he said.
Hawke's Bay got off to a slow start, allowing Northland to pound at their line for the first 10 minutes.
The visitors had a chance to take an early lead only to see fullback Lachie Munro miss his first penalty attempt of the game.
In their first raid upfield, Hawke's Bay had Northland pinned in deep defence but after 13 phases, their patience broke and skipper Jason Shoemark tipped on a blind pass that Munro intercepted.
The Northland fullback raced upfield unchallenged to score the opening try of the match which he also converted.
The game swung back Hawke's Bay's way after Northland lost another lineout, with energetic halfback Chris Eaton producing a brilliant solo run down the left flank after the scrum restart to beat two tacklers and dot down.
Fullback Mark Jackman missed the conversion but made amends with a successful penalty that got his side into the lead at 8-7 only to see Munro nail another penalty to give his side a 10-8 lead at halftime.
The Hawke's Bay pack, with loose forwards Karl Lowe and Michael Johnson, prop Clint Newland, hooker Hika Elliott and lock Bryn Evans prominent, took control of the game after the break.
Jackman gave Hawke's Bay the lead again with another penalty and then burly winger Richard Buckman powered through three Northland tacklers to score in the corner after a Khan Fotuali'i dab down the middle broke the Northland defence.
Jackman's conversion saw the lead stretch out to 18-10 and although Munro, who scored all his side's points closed the gap with another penalty, first five-eighth Fotuali'i sealed the game for the Magpies with a converted try after Evans had pulled down a late Northland drop out.
Hawke's Bay 25 (Chris Eaton, Richard Buckman, Kahn Fotuali'i tries; Mark Jackman 2 con, 2 pen) Northland 13 (Lachie Munro try; Munro con, 2 pen).