As reported on on the Northland Rugby Union website taniwha.co.nz

Toll United Northland narrowly went down to North Harbour this afternoon 7-10 in a pre season Air New Zealand Cup fixture in Kaikohe, Wednesday 15 July

The match was played in front of approximately 2,000 people, this being a good sized attendance for a pre season encounter.

Northland made a great start to the game with half back Luke Hamilton scoring within the first five minutes, direct from a penalty. This was converted by first five Lachie Munro to make it 7-0.

The rest of the half was evenly matched, with both sides having opportunities to add points to their tally, however a lone penalty to North Harbour saw the score read 7-3 to Northland at halftime.

The halftime break saw North Harbour coaches Craig Dowd and Jeff Wilson inject some of the their key squad members onto the field with immediate dividends. A converted try early in the second half saw North Harbour take a 7-10 lead, which was to end as the final score.

Northland turned down many easy kickable penalty opportunities late in the second half to tie the scores, with the intention being to win the game in front of their home supporters.

For Northland, the loose forward trio of Junior Gadolo, Matt Clutterbuck and Cameron Eyre had strong games. Prop Karl Haitana also made a promising start to the year, playing well in his debut for Northland. An area of weakness was at line out time, however two of Northland’s contracted locks in Pat O’Connor and Cameron Jowitt took no part in the game, both having recently arrived in Northland.

In the backs, Luke Hamilton and Lachie Munro functioned well together, along with Derek Carpenter having a strong game at second five.

Those who did not play due to injury (on top of locks mentioned above) included, Bronson Murray, Joel McKenty, Tim Dow, Matt Wallis, Justin and Nick Collins, with Rene Ranger coming off the bench to play the final twenty minutes. Only Junior Gadolo came out of the game with a slight injury concern to his neck.

Toll United Northland’s next pre season game is against Counties at Pukekohe, Friday 25 July. This is their final hit out prior to their first Air New Zealand Cup game against BOP in Rotorua, Friday July 31