Northland regroup to cut out mistakes

You might see one or two of the top teams blow out some of the other teams but generally most of the games are going to
be tight.Bryce Woodward, Northland coachTextBox1Taranaki will be a tough nut for Northland to crack when they  meet in round two of the Air New Zealand Cup at Albany's North Harbour Stadium tonight.
While Taranaki are on top of the tree early in the piece, the Taniwha did not get off to the best start, going down 14-19 to Bay of Plenty at Rotorua Stadium in a game which they should have won. Going against Northland were the  dysfunctional line-out and basic errors  which just littered their play.
Coach Bryce Woodward said that following last Friday's loss, the team returned home to debrief and analyse where it had all  gone wrong.
"I think what happened was a combination of a number of things that went wrong," he said.
"We weren't quick enough off the ball, our opposition were very good at what they were doing and we got rattled.
"They were doing a lot of calls and picked up on our calls very quickly so they knew where we were going to throw the ball."
As a result of their analysis Northland concentrated on making their line-outs effective. In preparation for tonight's game several specific  sessions were held on Sunday and Monday to work on perfecting  the throw-in and feed it to the backline, who did not see much ball during the Bay game.
 Taranaki came back from 9-0 down after 30 minutes to beat Tasman 21-9 in Blenheim on Thursday,  although there were  instances of sloppy play from the visitors on attack who all too often forced a pass or turned the ball over in the tackle while their defensive effort was creditable, managed by a cohesive and solid forward pack.
With both teams aiming for improved performances, there will be little room for error in tonight's game, originally scheduled to be played at Okara Park.
The match was shifted to North Harbour as the New Zealand Rugby Union deemed the surface at Okara Park unsuitable after bad weather stunted its development.
Taranaki will pose a challenge but aside from a few outstanding teams, Woodward believed the competition was anyone's for the taking this year.
"Apart from probably three teams at the top, the competition is pretty even, especially with the conditions we get at this time of year," he said.
"As conditions improve, that will favour the team with the better athletes," said Woodward, "but at this time of year there's a lot of hard grind and it's the teams that make  fewer mistakes and do the basics and fundamentals right that do really well.
"You might see one or two of the top teams blow out some of the other teams but generally most of the games are going to be tight."
Conditions for tonight's game are expected to be cool,  and no rain is forecast.
Northland: Bronson Murray, Tim Dow, Karl Haitana, Daniel Goodwin, Cam Jowitt, Joel McKenty, Matt Clutterbuck, Cameron Eyre, Luke Hamilton, Lachie Munro, Rene Ranger, Derek Carpenter, Damian Fakafanua, Troy Woodman, Jared Payne (c). Reserves: Mikaele Tuu'u, Matt Wallis, Daniel Faleafa, Eroni Gadolo, Rhyan Caine, Jon Elrick, Brook Gilmore.
Taranaki: Ace Malo, Nathan Hohaia, Willie Rickards, Jayden Hayward, Shayne Austin, Jack Cameron, Crett Goodin, Jarrad Hoeata, Chris Walker, Johnny Willis, Craig Clarke, Leon Power, Michael Bent, Laurence Corlett, Tony Penn (c). Reserves: James Hinchco, Carl Carmichael, Samuela Vunisa, Scott Waldrom, Kylem O'Donnell. James McSeveny, Ed Jenkins.