The Northland Under-18 side had a convincing 23-15 win in their final pre-season hit out against the Auckland Under-18 Divisional side at Wellsford Rugby Club.
Northland played with the wind during the first half of Saturday's game and used this, along with good structure, to apply pressure on Auckland. Early territorywas turned into points with penalties by Kamo first five Tyler Lansdowne.
The Northland boys used their possession wisely, got good ruck speed and had width of attack, and were able to send Lansdowne and Hikurangi second five Steve Pene in to dot the ball down.
Auckland scored right at the end of the first half after a favourable bounce from a kick, which saw the player score from the half-way mark. Heading into the break, the score was 20-5.
During the second half, Northland played into the wind and against a determined Auckland team. Auckland's discipline let them down at times, which saw two of their players sin-binned.
Northland had an opportunity to take advantage of this situation but, due to a loss in team structure and support play on attack, they were only able to secure a penalty.
Auckland scored two second half tries and were pressing the line hard towards the final whistle, but Northland were gutsy in defence and held on to their lead.
Saturday's game was beneficial for Northland, helping them prepare for their first competition game of the Northern Regions Under-18 Representative Programme, against Auckland A in Whangarei on September 4.
