A more committed second half against Northland will give Southland something to build on ahead of their Ranfurly Shield challenge against Waikato in nine days time.

Southland will be sweating on the recovery of James Wilson and Flynn Thomas after losing the team’s co-captains inside the first half hour of their 26-10 loss against Northland in Whangarei tonight.

It was a bitter blow for the Stags, who really have been unlucky with injuries this season, losing their most experienced player and their most promising player within minutes of each other.

"It was the same old story, we played well in patches, but then we lost concentration in patches. If we could get some consistency going then we would be able to do the job," Tony Lamborn said.

Northland scored three tries in the first half during a nine-minute period, profiting from missed tackles around the ruck by Southland.

The opening 10 minutes were an even affair, with Southland getting on the scoreboard first through the boot of Wilson.

With Jack Capil moving from the second row to flanker, Southland’s height at lineout time proved to be advantageous, the Stags stealing three home lineouts in the early phases of the game.

Southland had the better of the first 10 minutes after the break, unlucky not to convert a lineout drive into a try when the referee found a truck-and-trailer.

The Stags muscled up to convert that disappointment into a 5m scrum after forcing Northland into their own ingoal and there was some good impact off the bench from the likes of Chris Apoua.

It took 25min, but Southland was finally rewarded when Manaaki Selby-Rickit used all of his long frame to reach over and score from close to the line and with Broc Hooper adding the conversion, the Stags suddenly found themselves back in the contest.

The Stags really needed to be the next team to score in order to push for a late win, but it was Northland who closed out the game with big lock Douglas grabbing his second try and securing the Taniwha a bonus point.

Playing against his old team, Tony Lamborn made a nuisance of himself at ruck time, while Raymond Nu’u was solid in the Southland midfield after replacing Wilson.

Northland 26 (Matt Matich, Sam Nock, Murray Douglas 2 tries; Jack Debreczeni 3 con)

Southland 10 (Manaaki Selby-Rickit try; James Wilson pen, Broc Hooper con)

HT: 19-3

Article added: Thursday 20 September 2018