A passionate but disciplined Northland brought Bay of Plenty's unbeaten run to a shuddering halt after beating the national provincial championship rugby leaders 30-23 in Whangarei last night.
Premiership leaders Bay of Plenty had scalped Counties Manukau, North Harbour, Waikato and Wellington in four games over the past fortnight and justifiably expected to roll an opponent who were fifth in the lower Championship division with just two wins from four matches.
But they were out-muscled in the setpieces and in open play by a side that produced an near error free performance.
Northland were without key players skipper Jared Payne and Rene Ranger for the match but an on-song fullback Lachie Munro made up for their absence with a perfect kicking performance that netted him 15 points.
Munro opened his night by booting over a booming penalty from 48 metres to give his side the lead in the 12th minute and added another two penalties and three conversions, one from wide out.
Wing Bryce Heem also had an outstanding night, scoring two converted tries with lock Mark Burman adding the other.
All three tries were the fruit of sustained pressure as Northland stylishly unlocked Bay of Plenty's defence with superb ball control over numerous phases.
Bay of Plenty stayed in touch in the first half with a penalty by first five-eighth Daniel Waenga and a try by openside flanker Sam Cane after Northland muffed a restart.
But they never came to terms with the pace and precision of a Northland attack that frequently used cutbacks to change the point of attack to buckle their opponents' defence.
Munro stretched the lead out with two second half penalties with Waenga adding a second for Bay of Plenty.
Bay of Plenty came back into the game in the final 10 minutes as Northland, down to 14 men with the sin-binning of first five-eighth Ash Moeke, began to tire and scored their second try through wing Lelia Masaga who crashed over in the left corner to set up a tense finish for an excited home crowd.
The gap narrowed to seven when Bay of Plenty, enjoying dominance for the first time in the game, managed to get numbers wide to outflank the Northland defence and speedy substitute Toby Arnold scored another unconverted try.
The kickoff gave Northland the chance to put the ball upfield with two minutes to go and plant themselves in the Bay of Plenty half and they held on to record a win to be proud of.
Bay of Plenty, with a bonus point for losing within seven points now have 20 points while Northland move to 13.
