Northland in bonus point win over leading side

Northland hit pay dirt on Saturday with their brand of attack-from-anywhere rugby overcoming the might of Southland's forward play and earning their most impressive win of the ITM Cup campaign.
The 33-22 win was a great dividend for the whole team, set up by rugged defence and finished off with two long-range tries featuring Rene Ranger and Jared Payne.
Veteran first five-eighth David Holwell said it was far from a perfect performance, but after losing two matches from winning positions in the competition to date - most recently against Wellington in the previous round - the side would take the win.
"We finally got that elusive fourth try, we got it this week and it made all the difference - we got home because we played for 80 minutes this week," Holwell said.
Skipper Jared Payne said the team were well aware that they had to improve their one-on-one tackling after the previous round's effort and by taking their chances when they were presented, they knocked Southland's confidence early on.
Northland's tactic of getting up in the face of the Southland team as they distributed the ball gave the hosts the early advantage as they raced away to an early 20-3 lead midway through the first spell.
The physical presence of Rene Ranger was enough to cause panic in the Stags' defence and with an overlap forming, Stags loose forward Dion Bates' pass went to ground, with Ranger snatching the loose ball up and running 20m to the line for the first try.
The second try was scored by flanker Dan Pryor, who saw the ball come out of a Southland ruck, picked it up and ran 30m along the touchline to score.
The third was sparked by a Lachie Munro turnover inside Northland's quarter. The ball was spread quickly, with Dean Budd running at the defence to free Ranger, who straightened the attack and drew the defenders to put Payne over the line untouched.
The Stags didn't panic, instead reverting back to their forward-based game and began to roll the phases together and pressure the Taniwha line. The penalty count grew against Northland and the Stags turned down kickable penalties to apply more pressure. Northland were on a final warning before allowing props Chris King and Jamie Mackintosh to score tries to make it 20-15 at the break.
The Southland pressure continued after the break and when Pryor was yellow-carded it seemed a bleak omen for Northland. But from a defensive scrum in their own quarter, the Taniwha struck back 10 minutes into the spell with Robbie Robinson brushed aside by Ranger, who then travelled 50m through defenders before putting away Payne to complete his double, and score the try of the match.
The Taniwha then put everything into defending their lead but didn't have things their own way. Mackintosh rumbled over the line with 11 minutes to go, narrowing the deficit to just five points, but Northland had enough left in the tank to hold Southland off with two further Lachie Munro penalties easing the pressure before fulltime.
There is still plenty to work on as the Taniwha consider next week's assignment against Canterbury, particularly in the forwards.
The Taniwha scrum malfunctioned four times in the first spell alone, pinged for infringing against the big Southland pack and they struggled to match the visitors around the ruck as the game wore on. Unlike the previous week, the lineout functioned well despite earning only a handful of throws during the game.
The tactic of getting up quickly on Southland paid off in the opening quarter but after the results overall were more sporadic, leaving further room for improvement.
Cameron Eyre, Pat O'Connor, Dan Prior and later Cam Goodhue were the standouts in defence, with Rhyan Caine playing well behind the scrum. 
The result sees Northland improve to three wins and three losses in the competition, leaving them  poised to capitalise if they can for the second week in a row knock over the competition leaders, with Canterbury now on top.