Plenty of good rugby not enough for Northland Taniwha after loss to Waikato in Hamilton

Rory Woods of Northland makes a strong run during the round four Bunnings Warehouse NPC match between Waikato and Northland on Wednesday in Hamilton. Photo / Getty Images

Rugby swings on an incredible number of small moments and Northland were guilty of those when it mattered the most. To be fair, Northland took hosts Waikato down to the wire for most of the Bunnings Warehouse NPC clash in Hamilton on Wednesday evening before conceding a try on the stroke of fulltime to lose 34-19.

In a storm week where the Taniwha are playing three games in eight days, the team showed a marked improvement against Waikato after an agonising loss to Southland in Whangārei but failed to take their opportunities.

There was plenty of good rugby, just not enough of it and if Northland can own the key moments especially when the game hangs in the balance, they can befriend the scoreboard.

Securing their own lineout has to be at the top of the list before the Taniwha take on Counties Manukau this weekend.

Against Waikato, they lost a whopping six throws by the third quarter of play which undoubtedly cost them key moments.

Throw in the number of wasted opportunities and unforced errors just when Waikato looked flat in the second spell only to have the last laugh when Xavier Roe touched down seconds before the final hooter.

The Taniwha were victims of falling off on crucial one-on-one tackles in the opening 20 minutes and an attack that, for the most part, looked predictable.

The Mooloos were able to get through the barricade too often early in the match and used the width of the field to good effect.

They had greater clarity about where and how they wanted to test the Taniwha defence and found themselves three tries up well before halftime.

D’Angelo Leuila’s raw power in busting tackles and high-impact ball carries added another crucial dimension to their attack.

Halfback Quintony Ngatai was another standout for the hosts and grafted valuable real estate to allow his team to build momentum and punch holes in the Northland defence.

His opposite, Lisato Milo-Harris, also had a blinder and showed his class with a clever cross-kick to an unmarked Nathan Salmon for the opening try in just the second minute.

But it didn’t take Waikato long to respond. Oli Mathis made a scything run down the midfield channel after slipping off the tackle of Northland No 10 Dan Hawkins and skimming fullback Tama Anderson on the inside to score.

Two more tries followed in quick succession and Waikato were 22-5 ahead by the 22nd minute. Northland made sure they were the next to score and scored twice.

Milo-Harris peeled off the back of a scrum 5m from the Waikato tryline and a deceptive run saw him reach out and score.

Centre Quinton Nichols won the race to the tryline off a hacked kick and Waikato found themselves just two points in front at halftime.

Rory Woods’ looping run with Brady Rush on the outside could have put Northland in front after the breather, but the flanker lost the ball metres from the Waikato tryline.

Northland’s last win in Hamilton was back in 2012. Where Wednesday’s loss - Northland’s third in four games - leaves their NPC campaign is hard to tell.