Some positives in Northland's failings

It's easy to imagine the Northland dressing room as a place of forlorn faces and drooping shoulders.

Played five, lost five, averaging 13 points a game, leaking 40 a game, rock bottom in the NPC first division. Their coach resigned last week and they are thankful there's no promotion-relegation this year.

But Bryce Woodward, back helping out this season in a rejigged three-way coaching setup for the remainder of the NPC, reckons things are not as bad as he'd feared when he stepped back after almost three years away.

Sure, the 32-10 loss to defending champions Canterbury on a miserable Saturday in Whangarei simply added another L to their result column. They have now lost 23 NPC games in succession, but there were positive notes to offer some encouragement.

"I thought we were competitive for 80 minutes, and they hadn't been in the previous part of the season," Woodward said. "The guys looked as though they wanted to get out and compete, be aggressive and weren't overawed by the situation.

"But there were far too many mistakes, and they were far too loose in terms of retention of possession."

Woodward, who presided over Northland's last win in the NPC, at the end of the 2002 season, before resigning, has come back as coaching co-ordinator to help Donny Stevenson and Mark Seymour in the wake of head coach Bruce Hodder's midweek resignation.

It had been an emotional week for the union and its players and Woodward admitted it was no secret that pressing that emotional trigger would be a key part in the planning for the Canterbury match.

Woodward's return is a short-term arrangement until the end of this season. He is reluctant to get back into fulltime coaching as he's busy with his land surveying and planning company. He was pleasantly surprised at the mood of the dressing room when he rejoined it last week.

"They were better off than what I had imagined. They seemed relatively positive and not down in the dumps. Certainly they're frustrated at what's been happening and are wanting to do well.

"But with the emotion of the game, to be finishing well and pushing for a try in final minutes, was a credit to them."

Woodward reckons their fitness is not good enough. That is being addressed and although outcome goals have not been set, Woodward said there are broad performance goals to target.

Meanwhile, Canterbury keep marching on. They fielded new faces and bided their time in splashing to a win which was harder than the score would suggest.

"I think our patience paid off. We turned them around a few times and it paid off in the second half," said acting captain Caleb Ralph. "That was the plan. We got the ball behind them and the openings came."

Southland 33 Taranaki 28

Southland made it four thrillers on the bounce with their late burglary at New Plymouth yesterday.

Wing Watisoni Lotawa snared a pass from Taranaki replacement Andrew Suniula and raced 75m to give Southland their second consecutive win.

But they can reflect on a campaign in which they lost to Waikato by two points with a try after the final hooter; then came within a point of toppling Auckland at Eden Park; then pinched a win over Otago with a try in the final moments.

It's all thrilling stuff and had more luck gone their way could have had them challenging for a top four spot.

"We're a second-half team, and that showed today," Southland captain Clarke Dermody said after a dreary first half of three penalty goals.

Southland caught up on a Taranaki break to level at 20-20, fell behind to a Scott Ireland try, but first five-eighths Richard Apanui's impeccable seven-from-seven goalkicking display kept them in the hunt until Lotawa's late handiwork.

Wellington 38 BoP 32

Wellington remain hard to figure out. But, win or lose, the neutrals usually get value for money.

They were 23-8 up at the interval, seemed to have the contest well in hand, then found themselves 32-23 down in the final quarter.

But tries to wing Roy Kinikinilau and No 8 Thomas Waldrom, stretching to reach a Jimmy Gopperth grubber kick to the corner, got the hosts home. Ma'a Nonu's fifth try of the competition in the first half puts him level with Canterbury's Scott Hamilton at the top of the individual tryscorers list.

The Bay have been unable to capitalise on their semifinal run of last year, but there were some encouraging aspects on Saturday.

"That was probably our best 80 minutes this year," Bay captain Wayne Ormond said.