Two quick tries give Mid Northern the upper hand

Mid Northern won their second successive premier reserve title on Saturday thanks to two tries that caught their opponents Kamo napping after halftime.
Veteran centre JT Thomas scored the first just two minutes into the spell and then put Charles Leuluai away for the second, immediately after the restart, to effectively knock Kamo out of the game - with the score finishing 14-3.
Mid Northern skipper Glen Williams said the old heads in the team started winding down the clock after that.
"It wasn't a great spectacle for the crowd as we wound the clock down ... but I'm now sure it's harder to defend a title than to win it for the first time - so it was a good effort this year," he said.
It was a subdued effort from the Kamo side, who still appeared to be feeling the effects of their upset, extra-time win over the Western Sharks last week.
They had their chances in the match and led 3-0 at the break. But the effort of defending for long periods in the first spell, with Mid Northern dominating both possession and territory, seemed to cost them.
The two tries forced Kamo to rally and they dominated in the final quarter in particular, hammering away at the line with their forwards, but were unable to break Mid-Northern's last line of defence.
"Kamo took it to us out there, they're a good young team and they're strengthened by a few of their premier players - and they are quite within their rights to do that - but we didn't have that option because we had both our teams in the final," Williams said.
Mid Northern were able to isolate the ball carrier at critical times on defence, steal the ball and then clear effectively, with Kamo often finding themselves back in their own half trying to regain lost ground.
Williams said  a good attitude had paid off for the club stalwarts in the side. "We've got a great squad with a bunch of old guys and a bunch of farmers, who've been playing together for a few years now and the win came from the heart in the end," he said. Kamo skipper Craig Burrow  was disappointed  a poor start to the second spell  cost them.  "Take out those five minutes after the break and it was a fairly even final," he said.