Down 14-0, then history: Northland fight back to beat Tasman and reach a first home semifinal

For twenty minutes at Semenoff Stadium, it looked as though Northland's dream season would end in front of their own fans. Tasman were 14-0 up, sharp and clinical, and the Taniwha could not get out of their own half. Then the fightback began, and by fulltime Northland had their reward: a 26-21 win, and a place in the first home NPC semifinal in the union's history.

It was a quarter-final that turned on Northland's refusal to panic. Johnny Lee crossed for Tasman inside three minutes, David Havili converting, and when the dangerous Kyren Taumoefolau finished in the 19th minute, also converted by Havili, the Mako led 14-0 and the home crowd had gone quiet. But Brady Rush got Northland on the board on 36 minutes, and Lachlan Hooper's try on the stroke of halftime, converted by the excellent Rivez Reihana, made it 12-14 at the break and changed the mood entirely.

The second-half turnaround

Northland came out with the momentum and never surrendered it. Terrell Peita went over on 50 minutes, Reihana converting for a 19-14 lead that put the Taniwha in front for the first time. The game then settled into the arm-wrestle Tasman wanted, until Ricki Heremaia, scoring his first NPC try, crashed over on 73 minutes. Reihana's conversion made it 26-14 and, as it turned out, that cushion was exactly what Northland needed.

Tasman would not go quietly. Dylan Irvine finished in the 76th minute and William Havili converted to bring it back to 26-21, setting up a tense final few minutes, but Northland held firm. Reihana finished with three conversions from a composed afternoon off the tee, and the Northland pack, having been second best early, dominated the collisions after halftime. Referee Angus Mabey kept his cards in his pocket all day.

There was a poignant note in the Tasman effort. David Havili, who had given the Mako their early platform, left the field with a shoulder injury, and it was his last match in the red before heading to Japan.

What it means

Northland finished the regular season second on the ladder, a point behind Canterbury, so this was the higher seed advancing, but nobody in Whangārei will care about the seeding. Northland have never hosted an NPC semifinal before, and after a season that also brought them a Ranfurly Shield tenure, the Taniwha are two wins from a final. They will host their semi next weekend against an opponent still to be decided from the rest of this weekend's quarter-finals.

For Tasman, seventh after the round robin, it is the end of a campaign that promised more, though they can point to the form of Taumoefolau and a bright future.

The Tasman Makos, celebrating a past provincial title. This time the Mako, seventh in the regular season, bowed out to Northland. File photo, 2013. Photo: Ricky Wilson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The wider picture

The most striking thing about this year's playoffs is who is not in them. Auckland, by a distance the country's largest population base, finished eleventh and did not make the quarter-finals at all. Wellington, champions as recently as a couple of seasons ago, propped up the table with the wooden spoon. The eight teams left standing are led by Canterbury and Northland, with Otago, North Harbour, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Tasman and Waikato filling out the draw. It is a reminder, if one were needed, that provincial rugby's heartland runs well beyond the big cities, and right now the far north is as warm as any of it.