Southland send Cowan off a winner

Southland just held off a strong second half comeback from Northland to win the ITM Cup match 16-12 in Invercargill on Wednesday night.

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Northland dominated most of the second spell, and scored two tries to one, but were just denied in a tight, tense finish.

In the end Northland conceded too many penalties and Scott Eade's accurate boot was vital for the Stags.

The match was vital to both team's top four aspirations. Northland were fourth with 15 points from six games and Southland were fifth on 11 points.

Northland travelled south after a nail-biting 31-32 loss to Taranaki while Southland had beaten North Harbour 27-17 in their last start.

The first 15 minutes were a settling-down period, Scott Eade kicking two penalties as the Stags capitalised on their territorial advantage.

Northland suffered a blow when captain Bryce Williams had to leave the field with an Achilles tendon injury, Daniel Faleafa replacing him and Rene Ranger taking over the captaincy.

The Southland forwards were in charge and the first try came after 22 minutes when lock Josh Bekhuis scored in the corner after good build-up work from Marty McKenzie, Jason Rutledge and Cardiff Vaega. Eade converted beautifully and Southland led 13-0.

It took Northland more than half an hour to mount their first meaningful attacks but they were repelled by urgent Stags' defence.

Southland had control of the match at halftime, their forwards exerting plenty of pressure which resulted in a 6-1 penalty count in their favour.

Northland made four changes to their starting lineup at the break, three to the forwards, as they sought to inject more urgency into their play.

Rain fell again early in the second spell and the ball became increasingly slippery. Ash Moeke slipped through a gap almost to the line for Northland but, as had happened so often, the ball was lost forward.

But Northland finally did get reward 10 minutes into the half when, from a lineout, Moeke stepped his way through two tackles and was driven over under the posts by his forwards. His conversion made it 13-7.

Northland were playing with renewed enthusiasm and they scored the try of the match four minutes later. Ranger beat three or four tackles before he was brought down, Moeke punted with pin-point accuracy to the right wing and Dan Caprice popped the ball into the hands of replacement hooker Tone Kopelani who crashed over.

Southland were falling off tackles as Northland, sparked by Moeke and Ranger, rode their momentum.

But the Stags gained a little breathing space after 23 minutes when Eade kicked his third penalty, from 28m, to extend the lead to 16-12.

Both teams resorted to kicking for position as the match went down to the wire, Northland making the occasional threatening breakout.

Northland twice turned down kickable penalties in favour of retaining territory but the Southland defence held.

Fittingly, Jimmy Cowan kicked the ball out for the final time to end the game and his New Zealand career.

Southland 16 (J.Bekhuis try; S.Eade con, 3 pens) Northland 12 (A.Moeke, T.Kopelani tries; Moeke con) HT: 13-0