Swords finish campaign winless

CARVING A PATH: Jaydenn Bentley Hape (on right with ball), Kawana Marsden (far left) and Kelsin Harding and Kyle Hool in the background.

Northern Swords 20 Rockcote Canterbury Bulls 56 (ht 6-32): In similar fashion to their rugby cousins in the Taniwha, the Northern Swords concluded their NZRL National Premier Competition campaign without a win or a draw to their name after going down to the Bulls at Toll Stadium in the final round in Whangarei on Saturday afternoon.

Rugby League Northland GM Alex Smits was there watching proceedings and noted the Bulls met some fierce resistance from the home guard, conceding the opening try via playmaker Kyle Hool.

The defending champions began to gain momentum through superior size and strength and were able to turn the smaller opposition players around and capitalise through their slick backs, although the Swords came out a different side in the second half, spread the ball and applied pressure of their own on the Bulls' outside backs.

"The Swords' backline was impressive as halves Brodee Palmer and Kyle Hool showed some inspirational vision and passing skills presenting centres, Caleb Aekins and Anaru Thompson with room to move," said Smits, also praising Israel Tahere, who was "fearless" on the wing with his early ball carries and set up a 80m try which went through five sets of hands for Thompson to dot down. Tahere and Hool scored two tries each, while Thompson kicked two goals.

While there were still plenty of positives to be taken from the match, Smits said the Swords were eventually well beaten by a team which deserves to have made the finals.

"However, they [Swords] competed and they competed well," he said, noting the main difference between the two sides was size - he estimated the Bulls' average pack weight would have easily been 105kg, while the Swords had only two players tipping 100kg.

"Jon Renes and his coaching staff and playing group should be very proud of the result and of the season. Although we finished on the bottom of the table, we are very proud of the effort and the improved results that our team has shown throughout our season. The measure of our success has not been the results but our ability to develop pride in the Northland jersey. We have shown the potential to build a good squad based around youth with a handful of old heads, with the young guys keeping the older ones honest by pushing them for places.

"As an organisation our priority, rightly or wrongly, hasn't been about our senior Swords team, it's been about building the foundations of the organisation and making league in Northland credible. We have done this now we have seen massive growth in playing numbers at club and school level [620 total in 2010 to over 3000 in 2015]. We now feel that we can start to focus on the bigger picture which will include increased emphasis on developing the player pathways."

Smits noted his organisation has been talking with some potential funders about supporting a coach and club development role, and strengthening links with the Warriors and with the Penrith Panthers.

Also praised was the partnership developed between Channel North and RLN which saw the game televised live as well as streamed on the link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygk-FmK7zz4, from where it can still be viewed.

Final round results

The above result allowed Canterbury to progress to meet Counties Manukau Stingrays - who finished on top of the ladder with a comfortable points-differential advantage over the South Islanders for overrunning Wellington Orcas 69-8 (34-4) in Porirua - in next weekend's 2015 NZRL National Premiership final.

The Stingrays, Bulls and Wai-Coa-Bay Stallions all finished the season with 5-1 records, with the Stallions missing out on the post-season on a countback. Elsewhere, Akarana notched up their second win of the season by beating the Central Vipers 26-44 (14-18) in Waitara but didn't have it all their way in the final round 7 of this year's championship.

However, the victory was enough for the four-time champions to secure a mid-table position, edging the Orcas on countback for fourth.

FINAL STANDINGS: Counties Manukau (for/against 302/ 100), 12 points, Canterbury (246/ 116) 12, Wai-Coa-Bay (198/110) 12, Akarana (188/168) 7, Wellington (166/213) 7, Central (134/332) 4, Northern (88/281) 2.