Southland Stags: 'Close is not good enough'
“We showed some positives out of that game, but we’ve said that the last couple of years and being close isn’t going to be good enough."
The message coming from the Southland Stags camp is consistent. There’s no settling for hard-fought close losses in 2023.
The Stags opened its 2023 National Provincial Championship season with a 29-21 loss to Waikato. It included a spirited fightback from 26-3 down at one point.
Rookie Stags hooker Jack Taylor told The Roaring Pen podcast this week the review following the game was an honest one.
“We showed some positives out of that game, but we’ve said that the last couple of years and being close isn’t going to be good enough.
“We left a lot out there. We did create a lot of stuff, we just didn’t finish it. This week is just about going to another level.
“We had a good look at that [Waikato] game and we were pretty honest in our review. Just moving forward to Northland we had a good preview and come up with a good plan in how we are going to attack them,” told The Roaring Pen.
Taylor impressed in his NPC debut coming off the bench in the first half for the injured Jacob Payne who is now likely to be sidelined for a period.
Rugby Southland director of rugby Matt Saunders also reaffirmed that message that close is not good enough in 2023.
“There were heaps of positives [against Waikato], but we want to be better than that, we don’t just want to get close and say that was a nice effort.
“We were pretty honest [after the game], we just need to win those games. That game was there for the winning and if we started better and finished better we would have won.
“It wasn’t good enough, and we need to be better. We don’t want to be accepting and say that was a nice comeback.”
The Stags’ next assignment comes on Sunday at Rugby Park in Invercargill what’s a game which looms as a must-win even in week two of the campaign.
Southland will take on Northland who has lost its first two outings to date. They will also be their playing third game in eight days when they visit Invercargill.
The latest Northland outing was on Wednesday night when they were beaten 28-13 by Taranaki.
Sunday’s game will kick-off at Rugby Park and will be a special day considering it will be the first time the Hetaraka Te Tai Trophy will be played for in Invercargill.
The Southland and Northland rugby unions introduced the trophy last year to honour Peter Te Tai. Te Tai’s birth name is Hetaraka, he’s known in Southland as Peter.
Te Tai was born-and-bred in Northland and shifted to Southland as a 19-year-old during the 1960s. He was a cook on a cruise ship that ended up in Doubtful Sound.
During a visit to the doctor, it was discovered Te Tai had tuberculosis, and he headed to Riverton to recover. It was during that time he met his future wife Dorothy Tui.
Te Tai has remained in Southland ever since. He has poured plenty into helping the community whether it be as a referee, team liaison officer, or bus driver.