Rugby: Northland run riot over Taranaki

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Taranaki have suffered their heaviest defeat to Northland after being thrashed 42-0 in Whangārei on Friday night.

The Yarrows Taranaki Bulls were kept scoreless as Northland ran in six converted tries at Semenoff Stadium, handing Taranaki a second straight loss in the Hilux National Provincial Championship.

Taranaki struggled to build any momentum throughout the match, with their set piece under pressure and poor discipline regularly handing possession and territory back to Northland.

Northland made a stunning start, with flanker Lachie Hooper scoring inside the opening minute from a charge down before adding two more tries to complete a first-half hat-trick.

His second came from a rolling maul in the 14th minute before he crossed again nine minutes later, with first-five Rivez Reihana converting all three to give the home side a 21-0 halftime lead.

Taranaki had opportunities with the ball but struggled to turn possession into sustained pressure, making just three entries into Northland’s 22 across the match compared with the home side’s 16.

Their problems at the set piece also prevented them from establishing a platform, while repeated penalties allowed Northland to dictate where much of the game was played.

Northland resumed the scoring through James Mullan in the 57th minute before Reihana crossed seven minutes later and converted his own try to push the margin to 35-0.

Any hopes of Taranaki salvaging something from the match disappeared as replacement Bradley Tocker was shown a yellow card in the 70th minute.

Northland replacement Grady Forbes completed the rout with a try in the 77th minute, with Reihana’s sixth conversion making it 42-0.

The result eclipsed Northland’s previous biggest winning margin over Taranaki, a 40-11 victory in Whangārei in 1987.

It was also the first time Taranaki had been held scoreless by Northland in their long provincial rivalry.

The defeat continued a difficult start to the season for Taranaki, who have now lost consecutive matches after going down 38-32 to Waikato in New Plymouth last weekend.

Taranaki have one win from their opening three matches and play Bay of Plenty next Saturday.