WELL DONE NORTHLAND!!!

Gotta hand it to the Northlanders....what a superb effort to beat the Cantabs. I hate seeing Canterbury lose, but I honestly think its great Northland won. It gives hope to the smaller unions that they can beat the S12 dominated unions from the main centres. Can only benefit NZ rugby.

Their forwards took it to us, completely dominating the much vaunted Canterbury machine. Their scrum looked awesome! Just so fired up!! Great stuff!

Our backs where negated by aggressive tackling. Norm Berryman is an absolute legend. What a character! And that Dan Parkinson has got real gas!!! The Springbok halfback also had a top game.

The Cantab's didn't play well. They weren't allowed to. Still Rob Deans has a lot to work on for the next game. Both him & the team will be bitterly disappointed at their performance. They lacked a lot of control.

Good points from the game for Canterbury would be the continued potential of Ben Blair. Given some more experience we have another potential AB on our hands. Not a lot of positives huh? Nevermind. Puts increased pressure on us for the semi's but the team seems to thrive under adversity.

Normally I'm extremely pissed at a Canterbury loss. But I wasn't this time. Ya couldn't lose to a more deserving team. CONGRATULATIONS NORTHLAND!

The Cantabs though have to lift their performance. Expect a more focused team next outing against Otago. One things for certain....their feet will be planted well & truly on terra-firma!