Northland held off Otago for a deserved 20-17 victory in a Championship division rugby match in Whangarei today.
Otago recovered from 13-10 down at halftime to lead 17-13 midway into the second half but Northland, with centre Rene Ranger an inspirational figure, clawed their way back with a match winning try
in the 60th minute.
Fullback and kicker Lachie Munro also had an influential game, scoring a try and kicking two penalties and two conversions.
Munro put his side ahead with a couple of penalties after Otago had taken the lead with a Tony Brown penalty.
Otago, with former All Blacks such as Kees Meeuws and Brown as well as a recent one in the form of Tom Donnelly seemed to have the edge in experience and organisation.
But Northland, ably led by loose forward Joel McKenty could never be accused of lack of endeavour despite a high turnover rate.
Otago took the lead again in the 18th minute with a try by TJ Ioane which Brown converted but Northland found themselves back in the game 14 minutes later.
A push upfield saw them win a lineout and from there a drive at the line saw McKenty get his hand on the ball to score after Donelly tried to rip the ball back for Otago.
Munro converted from a wide angle to give his side a 13-10 lead.
Fortunes swung back Otago's way when wing Buxton Popoalii burst the Northland defence down the left.
Otago drove the ball close to the Northland line and Meeuws was unstoppable as he dived to dot down for Brown to convert.
However, Ranger, who was difficult to contain in attack while also having a busy game in defence, swung the game Northland's way.
Munro snaffled a turnover and Ranger, collecting the chip, ghosted through the Otago defence.
He was stopped by Brown's shoulder but not before releasing the ball to his support.
From there the ball swung back to the right where Munro finished the move off before converting his own try.
The result sees Northland chalk up their second win from four games, moving them to nine points alongside Otago in fourth place on the championship standings.
