Northland plan to build on laudable Shield challenge

The key now is to be able to perform as well as we did in Christchurch.- Bryce Woodward Northland coach It is now exactly a year to the day that Northland last tasted victory at Okara Park, by beating Manawatu 45-24 in last year's campaign.
Northland's home ground hoodoo will come under the microscope this week as they begin their fight to remain relevant in the Air New Zealand Cup after being denied a bonus point in Saturday's heart-breaking loss to Canterbury.
Coach Bryce Woodward said the team will meet to review the Canterbury match today  and he plans to broach the subject with the players to see if they can avoid a repeat of the last two defeats that  have put Northland near the foot of competition ladder.
"The key now is to be able to perform as well as we did in Christchurch, at home," Woodward said.
"Apart from the Taranaki home game, which was played at North Harbour, we haven't played that well at home this season, so it's time to change that against Tasman."
Northland played fairly well at Kerikeri against Auckland but their performances against Otago and Counties  were  woeful.
However, the heavy loss to Counties has already paid some dividends, the coach believes, forcing the team to address some problems in their outside defence.
"We hadn't put much emphasis on our defence out wide before then but, because Manawatu, Tasman and Canterbury also attack a lot along those outside channels, we've had to emphasis it and we've done pretty well in that area since then," he said.
The effort of matching Canterbury physically will see a few sore bodies show up for today's session and Woodward is hoping the injury toll isn't serious.
"Several guys were nursing sore shoulders at the end of the game but we don't really know how bad they are yet," he said.
A lapse in concentration from Northland at the start of the second spell proved to be their achilles heel in the match.
After a great second quarter effort, it was always going to be vital who scored the first points of the second half of the Ranfurly Shield challenge - and Northland gave up an easy try.
"It was disappointing to give away that silly try but then to claw our way back into the game to be 21-all with 15 minutes to go, I thought was a reasonable effort," he said.
"I think we defended very well. The first try was clever play and brilliant execution by Canterbury but after that, the next try was just a lapse in concentration and I thought the last try came from a forward pass," Woodward said.
The Shield challenge has bolted and a strong Tasman team become the focus of this week - not to mention the challenge of a home win at Okara Park.
"We've got to put a performance on the park at home and Tasman this week give us the chance to get rid of the home ground bogey, or whatever you want to call it, and that's our priority now," he said.