Northland find Auckland defence too strong

Northland's inability to breakthrough Auckland's last line of defence saw them taste defeat for the first time this season, going down 3-27 at Farmlands Park in Dargaville yesterday.
The home side enjoyed around 70 per cent of possession in the first spell and a similar territorial advantage but couldn't unlock the Auckland defence and as the game wore on, the visitors began to out-muscle them up front, leading to domination and tries.
Taniwha blindside flanker Dean Budd - who switched allegiance to his native Northland after playing for Auckland last season - summed up the forward battle as well as anyone.
"They all seemed a bit bigger when you're playing against them; when you're on the same side you don't really notice how big they really are," he said after the match.
The sheer size of the Auckland pack - including their replacements - meant that strategies to bypass them soon fell by the wayside in the wet, unhelpful conditions. Northland's task was made tougher when experienced loose forward Joel McKenty was helped off the park after sustaining a medial ligament injury.
Northland tried to use width in the first spell, whenever possible, and their passing was good in the wet, but time after time they came away from several phases of possession without points. The Auckland backs were often up offside in the first spell and Northland turned down at least five kickable penalties, in the spirit of a pre-season fixture, and instead sought to break the Auckland line.
After all that possession it was a major blow to see Auckland score in their first real chance of the game after 25 minutes, when No8 Peter Saili and hooker Ash Dixon broke off the side of a maul to crash over from close range, following an attacking line-out. New signing Matt Berquist converted and then added a penalty just before the break to give the visitors a 10-0 lead at halftime.
Northland coach Bryce Woodward replaced some of his first-choice players in the second spell - no doubt considering the injury to McKenty - with Rene Ranger and Jared Payne the first to make their way from the field.
The replacements weren't always able to make their mark and as a whole Northland's second half performance was disappointing. The mistakes that Auckland made in the first spell, under pressure from Northland, were gone in the second as they began to turn the screws and use their size advantage up front.
Approaching the midway point of the spell, Auckland finally broke through again, with lock Kurtis Haiu the scorer. Halfback Toby Morland scored another shortly afterwards to seal the win, before replacement back Brenton Helleur completed the try-scoring late in the game.
Budd, one of the standouts for the Taniwha, said Auckland were a different level to them in the match. "We've got to get harder, we've stepped up a level from club rugby but we'll need to step up again if we want to match Taranaki next week," he said.