Northland rueful as victory slips away

Northland left Invercargill's Rugby Park last night the happier side after an absorbing but ultimately disappointing 15-15  draw with Southland.
You would have bet money that coach Bryce Woodward would have jumped at a draw before the game, given the differing weeks the two teams have had, but afterward the coach said there was a flat feeling in the sheds.
"After having got in a position to have won it was very disappointing ... but on the up side the endeavour shown was a big step up from last week and that's what we asked for at training and they delivered."
The Taniwha had something to prove and took on a large experienced Southland pack physically up front.
They were only denied a dramatic win in the 80th minute, when replacement hooker Jason Rutledge spun over to level the scores.
Debutant first grader Seminar Manu fluffed an easy conversion to be the weak link in the side that dominated three quarters of the match.
Northland started well and dominated territory and possession, until in the 14th minute, when a rare defensive lapse allowed Matt Saunders to break the line. The cover hesitated  which allowed the winger  time to give lock Josh Bekhuis the chance to score.
Stags' skipper Jamie Mackintosh was injured and replaced by Fai Mika but the Northland scrum still faced their toughest test since they played Auckland.
Southland began to wear down their visitors  until Jared Payne picked up a try against the run of play.
Damien Fakafanua sparked a raid down the left touch line and when he tried to link with Rene Ranger, the ball was knocked loose by Stags fullback Mark Wells. Payne, following up, picked up the ball and dotted down.
Southland's kicking let them down as they tried to recapture their lead and chances went wide at the end of the first spell and the beginning of the second with the score deadlocked.
Mika scored for a 10-5 lead. after the locals had applied 10 minutes of pressure from the restart.
Southland were kept from adding to their total only by some great defence by the visitors, who soaked up plenty of pressure.
Taniwha replacement halfback Luke Hamilton provided his side with an unlikely shot at taking home four points, by running from the base of a ruck with eight minutes to go. Hamilton took advantage of his freshness to run at the defence and beat them every which way - surrendering the ball to his ever present skipper with a flourish -to run to the line untouched.
The final few minutes provided Northland with plenty of opportunity to kill the game but they couldn't quite do it and Rutledge pounced. The drama wasn't over and Joel McKenty, who showed a flair for attracting the attention of cameras in Invercargill as well as some good loose forward play, led a charge down before the kick could be taken that didn't help Manu's nerves and he missed a sitter.
Southland 15 (Bekhuis, Mika, Rutledge tries) Northland 15 (Payne 2 tries; Munro 1 pen, 1 con)