Relegation spectre as Northland fire blanks

By CHRIS RATTUE

The dreaded words promotion-relegation have already entered Northland's rugby vocabulary with three rounds remaining in the NPC.

Northland will have to produce a dramatic turnaround, starting against Bay of Plenty in Whangarei this evening, to avoid the promotion-relegation clash this year against the second division champions.

After losing all six games this season, including a thrashing at the hands of North Harbour last week, Northland are without a competition point.

With away assignments against Waikato and Southland to come, this evening's match is vital.

Northland coach Bryce Woodward said turnovers and defensive errors had been their problem all season.

"If you look at the statistics we are missing about 20 tackles a game whereas you almost always find winning teams miss fewer than 15," he said.

"Missing a few vital tackles every game has cost us dearly, like in the Taranaki game where we missed Shayne Austin a couple of times, and we've been turning the ball over all year.

"All you can do is work on techniques and do them over and over again in training, which is what we've been doing.

"All the players know that the future of our first division status is one the line. They have to motivate themselves individually and collectively to turn that around and get the sort of desperation this game warrants."

Woodward has made a couple of changes to his intended lineup, with Con Barrell out because of a knee injury and props Tim Knight and Mike Storey promoted to the starters.

Bay of Plenty will assure themselves of retaining their first division status with a win tonight. They have already exceeded many people's expectations through their win over Southland and picking up five vital bonus points this year.

Instead, it is Northland who are in the position many thought Bay of Plenty would be in.

Northland: Rhyan Caine, Fero Lasagavibau, Jason Hita, Jason Shoemark, Rupeni Caucaunibuca, Hayden Taylor (c), Sam Pinder; Brett Waaka, Allen Tubbs, Brent Dale, Brad Taylor, Vula Maimuri, Tim Knight, Jason Hammond, Mike Storey. Res: Derren Witcombe, Bronson Murray, Tim Henwood, Aaron Wright; Lee Peina, Regan Finch, Robbie Johnson.

Bay of Plenty: Grant McQuoid, Sam Hala, Dale Rasmussen, Damian Karauna, Jason Tiatia, Glen Jackson, Rameka Poihipi; Clayton McMillan, Rodney Voullaire, Wayne Ormond, Mark Weedon (c), Glen Rawlinson, Taufa'ao Filise, Aleki Lutui, Simms Davison. Res: Thompson Tapsell, Guy Shepherdson, Dave Duley, Dave Gorrie; Chris LeLievre, Anthony Swann, Anthony Tahana.

Referee: Paddy O'Brien (Southland). Kickoff: 5.35pm.