Northern Swords show cutting edge to stun Wellington Orcas
The Northern Swords pulled off an upset win in the first round of the NZRL National Championship against Wellington Orcas.
Crowned the Northern Zone Champions the week previous, the Swords met Wellington, the powerhouse Central Zone champions, in Takahiwai on Saturday for a chance to compete in the promotion/relegation game of the NZRL National Premiership competition.
The Swords looked to gain the early advantage with Cyrus Edwards, Ross McFarlane and Sepeti Tatu making inroads through the Wellington defence and giving Kiernan the chance to put the first points on the scoreboard.
Wellington struck back with their outside backs Ulai Oti and Aaron Whitikia finding a way through to level the score.
The Swords stepped up their defensive efforts, with Johnson and Salase forcing errors to take the lead 12-6 but once again Wellington answered with another backline move to end the half at 12-all.
The second half saw both teams wrestle for dominance but with plenty of missed opportunities, Wellington took the advantage by slotting a penalty to take the lead with 15 minutes remaining.
The Swords kept their structure, with Hool slicing through to score five minutes before fulltime, giving them the win nobody had expected.
That huge team effort will see the Swords travel with confidence to Dunedin to face Southern Zone champions Otago next weekend.
(Kiernan, Kyle Hool, Jessie Epiha tries, Ed Wilson 2 goals)
(Ulai Oti, Tuangalu tries, Whitikia 2 con, pen).