Northland upset Taranaki in ITM Cup opener

Northland made the most of their chances to kick-start the new national provincial rugby championship with a shock 26-19 win over Taranaki in New Plymouth tonight.

After finishing second from last in 2009, the Northlanders made an immediate mark with a result which owed much to their tenacious qualities as well as the charitable nature of their opponents.

Taranaki were sloppy in much of their work and two of Northland's three tries came directly from intercepts as the home side paid the maximum penalty for wayward passing.

Taranaki's frustrations were apparent in the closing minutes when Northland wing Lachie Munro landed a 45m penalty to confirm the result after referee Garratt Williamson penalised the home side then made Munro's task all the easier by marching the home side 10m for back chat.

Northland had the better discipline and deserved to prevail in a scrappy, error ridden affair.

The first round fixture lacked quality, with neither side capable to retaining possession for any period of time, leading to a stop-start affair interspersed with the odd piece of individual flair.

Taranaki had led 19-18 at halftime after the lead changed hands on five occasions.

First five-eighth Willie Ripia's accurate goalkicking enabled them to edge ahead as he contributed 14 points to complement their sole try in the period to flanker Chris Walker, who flopped over the line in the 30th minute following a strong run to the line by his No 8 Ben Souness.

Northland fed off Taranaki's mistakes during the opening half when the home side missed 11 tackles and made 17 errors.

But they, too, lacked fluidity although their backs looked threatening at times, particularly when All Blacks utility Rene Ranger got his hands on the ball at centre.

Flanker Dean Budd pulled off a 60m intercept try in the 12th minute against the run of play, but there was nothing fortunate about their second when they stole lineout ball nine minutes later. The ball was quickly ferried to Ranger, who set off on a long, angled run before he popped a pass for his wing Simon Munro to cross in the right-hand corner.

Northland snuck ahead shortly after the break when wing Lachie Munro latched on to another intercept and had just enough pace over 40m to reach the tryline.

Northland 26 (Dean Budd, Simon Munro, Lachie Munro tries; Lachie Munro 3 pen, con) Taranaki 19 (Chris Walker try; Willie Ripia 4 pen, con). Halftime: 18-19.

- NZPA