Canterbury return to winners circle

CANTERBURY 44 NORTHLAND 17

Canterbury returned to winning ways and retained the Ranfurly Shield comfortably with a 44-17 NPC first division win over Northland at Jade Stadium, Christchurch last night.

The home side did well to run in seven tries in cold, howling conditions against the outclassed Northlanders but the All Black-laden defending champions were still a far cry from their best.

However, they were far more cohesive than their winless opponents and virtually ensured themselves of a safe defence after leading 20-7 at the break despite playing into a ferocious wind.

Some good patches were encouraging after their stunning 41-59 loss to Waikato last week.

Northland remain without a single competition point but showed some good signs in the second half after a first spell marked by fruitless forward drives and mistakes.

A big win looked on the cards for Canterbury when centre Nathan Mauger, first five-eighth Daniel Carter -- a late starting replacement for Andrew Mehrtens -- and flanker Richard McCaw crossed for tries to open up a 20-0 lead after 30 minutes.

However, Northland captain Glenn Taylor reached out from a ruck on the stroke of halftime.

Midfield backs Aaron Mauger (two), replacement centre Mark Robinson and winger Joe Maddock scored second-half tries for Canterbury although exciting Northland winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca responded with a contrasting double.

The first came in the middle of a forward drive but the second was a spectacular effort after a regathering a chip kick and sprinting 70m.

Canterbury leapfrog three teams to be tied for second place on the points table with four matches remaining in found five.

Northland played most of the second half without both of their starting locks and would have been concerned by a knee injury suffered by Taylor.

- NZPA