Former All Black, North Auckland player and coach Lindsay Townsend has applauded the way Northland have played throughout their ITM Cup season and says top-level rugby doesn't always give you what you deserve.
The brand of attacking rugby that a small provincial team like Northland displayed this season had been a
pleasure to watch, Townsend said. While it might not have been enough to earn the Taniwha a place in next year's "premier" competition, it hadn't been far off the mark.
"They've been so unlucky not to have done better in some of their games, against North Harbour and even against Auckland, but especially against teams like Wellington and Canterbury in particular, missing out on that try in the last minute," he said.
He may as well have added Tasman to that list, which will go down in the list of games that "got away" from Northland in 2010.
Townsend knows his rugby. He played five years for Otago - including a memorable season when Otago last won the Ranfurly Shield in 1957 - before he relocated north to play another six seasons for Northland.
Townsend knows directly about the ups and downs of top-level rugby after taking over the reins at North Auckland for four years. He had a sticky start to his managerial campaign with the Taniwha - demoted in his first season before bouncing straight back to gain promotion in 1977 - before going on to surprise the rugby world by taking the Ranfurly Shield off Manawatu in 1978.
"We used to play pretty enterprising type of ruby back then. It was a North Auckland trait to be innovative and to try to get the backline moving well and I've been so impressed with the manner these guys have been playing, considering the limited amount of talent that they've got," he said.
"Let's hope they don't lose too many players after the season - look at the instance of Auckland taking back [loan player] Bryce Heem - the same thing happened years ago when they took back Aldridge after we beat Auckland one year but he never made it out of their second XV and now he's playing rugby in Japan," he said.
Townsend, said he isn't the only former player to believe the Northland team have been unlucky.
"All the other Vikings members are very impressed with the way they are playing and are just sorry they haven't been rewarded with different results," he said.
