RUGBY - Crunch time demands effort

When the big boys come to town, it is essential that you front up with your A game otherwise you are going to be beaten.
Auckland certainly fall into the category of one of the top sides with a huge amount of talent in the team.
While the players may not yet be household names, they have generally come through the age group system as stars. A lack of experience has yet to turn them into top quality footballers, but their talent is undoubted and can cause a huge challenge to any opposition team.
While Northland had a very poor initial start, the 20 or 30 minutes after that, Northland definitely had their A game in place which produced two tries of good quality and raised the hopes of all Northland supporters.
Unfortunately after half time, the Auckland machine started to get into action and all that talent started to exert pressure onto the Northland side.
This caused some errors at lineout and scrum time and the defensive line and this resulted in Auckland ultimately getting over the top of a gallant Northland side.
Once again, the Northland wingers had an excellent games and Fetu Vainikolo is progressing each week as a real danger to opposition teams. Glenn Martin also had a top game-scoring one of the Northland tries in the process.
In terms of a ranking, I would say that Northland would be awarded a B or B+ but unfortunately only a ranking of A would be enough to overtake a side like Auckland with so much natural talent.
If you are going to operate at a B+, then you need to hope that the opposition is operating at a C- or below and unfortunately, you would also have to give them a B or B+ on their performance.
The pressure really now comes on Northland over the next two weeks.
To gain a quarterfinal spot, Northland will need to win the next two games against Hawke's Bay and Counties Manukau otherwise they will miss out.
The players need to get excited about both of these games and the opportunities that the games present.
Getting excited should sharpen the mind and body to ensure that the minor lapses at scrum and lineout and defensively do not happen in these critical games.
Our whole season will be assessed on the performance over the next two weeks and we will all certainly be watching with interest.