Northland stun Waikato in Hamilton

Ash Moeke: Scored 14 points

Northland registered a shock 29-27 victory over Waikato in their ITM Cup encounter in Hamilton on Saturday.

As the scoreline suggests this was a closely contested affair and the visitors sealed the result with a try in the 78th minute by Dan Pryor, from a rolling maul, which Ash Moeke converted.

Five minutes earlier Declan O'Donnell thought he had won the match for Waikato when he dotted down after beating several defenders on his way to the the try-line.

Both teams deserve credit for making this an entertaining spectacle and the lead changed hands on five occassions.

Each side crossed the whitewash on three occassions with Matt Vant Leven and Ben May scoring Waikato's other tries and Fa'atoina Autagavaia and Mateo Malupo also dotting down for the visitors.

Waikato suffered a setback in the 55th minute when their fly-half Sam Christie was sent to the sin bin for holding back a kick chaser when he had the opportunity to score.

Although Moeke failed to succeed with the penalty, Northland continued to ask questions of their hosts, and although Waikato were back to 15 men at the end they could not deny their opponents a deserved victory.

The scorers:

For Waikato:
Tries: Vant Leven, May, O'Donnell
Cons: Renata 2
Pens: Renata 2

For Northland:
Tries: Autagavaia, Malupo, Pryor
Con: Moeke
Pens: Moeke 4

Yellow card: Sam Christie (Waikato - 55th minute)

Waikato: 15 Trent Renata, 14 Tim Mikkelson, 13 Save Tokula, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Declan O'Donnell, 10 Sam Christie, 9 Tawera Kerr- Barlow, 8 Alex Bradley (c), 7 Zak Hohneck, 6 Matt Vant Leven, 5 Romana Graham, 4 Chris Middleton, 3 Ben May, 2 Marcel Cummings- Toone, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 Kalem Chan Boon, 17 Ted Tauroa, 18 Sam Kilgour, 19 Jono Armstrong, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Piers Francis, 22 Glen Robertson.

Northland: 15 Fa'atoina Autagavaia, 14 Dan Caprice, 13 Rene Ranger, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Mateo Malupo, 10 Ash Moeke, 9 Samisoni Fisilau, 8 Hale T-Pole, 7 Dan Pryor, 6 Dan Faleafa, 5 Bryce Williams (c),4 Jack Whetton, 3 Scott Vessey, 2 David Hall, 1 Matt Wallis.
Replacements: 16 Tone Kopelani, 17 Justin Davies, 18 William Whetton, 19 Jack Ram, 20 Rhyan Caine, 21 Orene Ai'i, 22 Tau Fa'asisila.

Referee: Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri