Hewett satisfied with effort

The Southland Stags didn’t win but coach Dave Hewett was satisfied with the team’s overall performance in a preseason game against Northland in Auckland yesterday.

Both teams are sharpening up for the start of the Mitre 10 Cup competition next week, with the first game being between Northland and North Harbour at North Harbour next Thursday. Three days later, Southland plays Hawke’s Bay at Rugby Park, Invercargill.

Northland beat Southland 24-12 after leading 12-5 at halftime in the preseason game. Southland suffered a setback in the first two minutes when Tayler Adams left the field with an injured ankle.

Hewett said Southland played good in the first half, went off the boil early in the second half and came right for the final quarter.

‘‘They showed good commitment in the first half,’’ Hewett said. ‘‘We tried some different combinations [in the second half] and it took a while to gel.’’

Handling errors cost Southland a couple of tries, he added.

Yesterday’s match was Southland’s third preseason game after playing Otago (lost 38-35) and North Otago (won 34-7) in recent weeks.

‘‘We’re not the finished product but we’re getting better and better,’’ Hewett said.

Meanwhile, their rival next week, Hawke’s Bay, will take on Manawatu¯ in its final preseason game in Napier today.

It will be Hawke’s Bay’s fifth warm-up game following on from clashes with Waikato (lost, 19-15), Manawatu¯ (won 27-24), Wairarapa Bush (won 57-12) and Tasman (won 31-22).

In the game against Waikato last Saturday, both teams scored three tries but Hawke’s Bay missed the conversions.