Wellington 31
Northland 28
Talk about your Blues Brothers. Jared Payne and Rene Ranger led Wellington, seven All Blacks and all, on a merry dance for much of this match - but it was the Boys In Black who sang the final chorus.
All that was missing from Northland's approach was the suits, the hats, the sunnies and someone called Jake and Elwood as Payne and Ranger, with help from big flanker Dean Budd, did their double act, keeping their side ahead until the 76th minute.
It went right to the death and, presented with a penalty at 31-28 down, the Blues Brothers did a most un-Blues Brothers thing. After a match of adventure and daring, they opted for the kick at goal and the draw - only for poor Lachie Munro to really get the blues when he missed.
Wellington had earlier seemed fascinated by Taniwha creativity, rarely able to stir themselves into much action. They built patiently, effectively, accurately for two tries but were mostly spectators as Northland seemed to sprinkle the magic puha dust over this game in the first half.
They started like they wanted to catch the train home after 20 minutes. They spread it wide early, recycled the ball quickly, and produced offloads and little pop passes after going to ground in the tackle. The passes stuck, the gaps opened, the Northlanders whooped and swooped.
They worked Ranger into holes - inducing intense alarm in the Wellington defences. After one such raid, where centre Payne worked things so Ranger burst into a huge gap, he produced an unexpected inside ball to centre Aaron Bancroft who scored in spite of Wellington's defenders.
It took Wellington 20 minutes to get on the board - and they were a little lucky; a mis-thrown pass causing some confusion in the Northland ranks after a scrum under the goalposts. Centre Shaun Treeby capitalised on the bounce. Northland cruised back, finding more holes than socks at a moth convention; Payne and Ranger combining again to send a rampaging Budd over. Wellington, having to make do with little ball and territory gains, put All Black flanker Victor Vito over for a well-constructed try.
Back came the Taniwha. Budd seized on a ball that squirted out of a defensive scrum, booted it downfield and, although Vito won the 75m race to the ball, Budd lined him up in the tackle right on the line.
Budd then grabbed the ball and score his second try from the tackled-ball situation, no more than Northland deserved for their adventure and enthusiasm.
At 25-10 down at halftime, Wellington had to assert themselves. They did - and the Northland passes, previously immaculately accurate, started to go astray as Wellington put more pressure on at the breakdown and with the ball in hand.
Big winger Julian Savea scored after good work by halfback Alby Mathewson - but it had nothing on the next one.
Wellington counter-attacked from a Northland counter-attack, first five-eighths Fili Fa'atonu dinked and ducked past three tacklers and strong running from Jeremy Thrush and Hosea Gear saw Vito worked into space to sprint-finish a superb try that flowed over 80m.
It was 24-25 and Wellington were beginning to squeeze the Taniwha, with Vito, Gear, Savea, and Alapati Leuia all prominent. Fa'atonu probed and directed with pinpoint kicks. Ranger ran one back, produced a ludicrously dangerous backhand offload from a tackle - and another sweeping Northland raid ended in a penalty to Munro. At 24-28, they had to hold on but desperate defence wasn't enough to stop prop John Schwalger from driving over. Even then, Northland could have snatched it. Their final raid, that late penalty; and the decision to kick for goal.
If only they'd reached for the saxophone instead of playing it safe with the harmonica.
Wellington 31 (S. Treeby, V. Vito 2, J. Savea, J. Schwalger tries; F. Fili 3 con), Northland 28 (A. Bancroft, D. Budd 2 tries; L. Munro 2 con, 3 pen). Halftime: 10-25.
