Northland Taniwha Futures stepped up another level from the previous week when they took on both North Harbour and Auckland in what turned out to be two very intense and entertaining games of 2 halves of rugby played at the Mahurangi rugby club on Saturday. The Taniwha proving too strong for their near neighbours North Harbour in their first 40 minute hit out coming away with a 19-0 victory.
Despite the very warm conditions, the visitors showed they meant business getting on top early with a series of opening phases that had the home team scrambling. Kiwi Duncan opened the scoring after 5 minutes following some great work by inside backs to free the impressive youngster into space down the touch line, despite a high shot from the last Harbour defender, Duncan showed some impressive strength to get the ball down in the corner.
Next to score was loose forward Melino Fotu running on to a short inside pass after some excellent work close in by some willing ball carriers. Fotu still had plenty of work to do from 20 metres out with the cover defence closing in, the last defender left in his wake as he showed strength and determination to cross the line, Tamatea Winiana adding the conversion.
The tactic of coming through the middle did the trick once again, on this occasion Tama Anderson showing his pace to scamper away under the posts and Winana adding the extras to close out the scoring. A couple of other scoring chances went begging during the 40 minutes, the closest being a charge down by Nathan Salmon, the bounce of the rugby ball eluding the rangy outside back with no defenders around.
Defensively the Taniwha were excellent, taking onboard the lessons from the week before, ably led by open side Zac Shanks. When he wasn't winning ball at the breakdown he was looking to pull off some big shots which had a few Harbour plays looking side ways. Melino Fotu and Zac Shanks especially impressed as did Oliver Hilton Jones coming into the loose forward mix with Kobe Walters who had moved into the unfamiliar position of lock. Both Walters and his locking partner Kali Vaipulu deserve a ton of credit, with only 2 locks available and with Terepai King unavailable it meant a full 80 minutes for both players was required and boy did they deliver. Walters with his incredible work rate and Vaipulu with some impressive lineout work, carries and offloads.
The combination of Tamatea Winiana and Kobe Scutt looked assured and could be a sign of things to come in the future for Northland Rugby. The back 3 of Tama Anderson, Nathan Salmon and Kiwi Duncan all stepped up from the week before especially on defence.
Auckland eased past the Taniwha Futures 14-0 in the 2nd game of 2 halves. Northland had their chances after a superb carry from Kali Vaipulu who took the ball on the 22 and with 3 or 4 Auckland players hanging on he still managed to get within 5 metres of the line, only a spilled pass with a couple of Auckland players looking suspiciously offside undoing the opportunity.
Only some fantastic scrambling defence when Northland should have scored prevented Auckland from going coast to coast after the ball was turned over.
Despite Northlands best efforts it would be Auckland who would score 2 excellent tries - the first coming on the very few times Auckland fully breached the Taniwha midfield scoring out wide, and then scoring from close range after a series of pick and goes close to the line.
A very game effort from the Northland Taniwha Futures in the 2nd 40 minutes given the amount of red zone opportunity. Northland had plenty of players put their hand up, Tahi Subritzky once again with ball in hand showed his power especially post contact, Subritzky who is only in his 3rd season of rugby after transferring from rugby league also scrummed very well destroying his opposite in one memorable scrum on the Auckland head and feed.
Brady Foster who came into the squad as a replacement during the week also impressed with his work rate. Foster seems to have filled out in the last couple of seasons and could be one to watch moving forward. Halfback llia Arona impressed with defensive organisation around the ruck when he came on pulling off a couple of impressive turnovers at crucial times with Arona, Jayden Kemp and Tamatea Winiana all around skirting around the fringes, halfback is one area that looks good for the province moving forward.
Coaches Graham Dewes, Marcel Kaipo, Ross Wright and Dan Hawkins I suspect will be pleased with what they were able to pull together after only 5 trainings given the resources of what Auckland especially have available at their disposal not to mention the extra time in camp. One man who will have plenty to think about is Northland head coach Marty Veale who was on hand over both Saturdays and must have been impressed with a couple of eye catching performances which turned a few heads .
Taniwha centurion Ross Wright hangs up boots and takes up coaching
