| Home team | Northland |
| Away team | Taranaki Bulls |
| Venue | Semenoff Stadium |
| Competition | NPC |
| Kick-off time | 8:10 am (UK) 7:10 pm (NZ) |
| Watch Live in the UK | NPC YouTube Channel |
Northland vs Taranaki Bulls preview as the sides meet at the Semenoff Stadium in round three of the NPC.
Both teams have won one of their two games so far, although Northland sit slightly ahead on seven points, while the Taranaki Bulls have six points.
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Northland vs Taranaki Bulls confirmed lineups
| Northland | Taranaki Bulls | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Fono | 1 | Proffitt | |||
| Mullan | 2 | Pokai | |||
| Renata | 3 | Parker | |||
| Craig | 4 | Sa | |||
| Goodhue | 5 | Parete | |||
| Rush | 6 | Namosaimalua | |||
| Hooper | 7 | Lawson | |||
| Peita | 8 | Walters-Hansen | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Nock | 9 | Lennox | |||
| Reihana | 10 | Clarke | |||
| Rush | 11 | Naholo | |||
| Creighton | 12 | Wiseman | |||
| Murray | 13 | Tamanivalu | |||
| Salmon | 14 | Tikoisolomone | |||
| Trainor | 15 | Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Hutchings | 16 | Hansen | |||
| Ryan | 17 | Watson | |||
| Heremaia | 18 | Johnston | |||
| Holwell | 19 | Jury | |||
| Forves | 20 | Tocker | |||
| Renton | 21 | Ngatai | |||
| J Stewart | 22 | Olsen | |||
| R Stewart | 23 | Ratu | |||
Recent Form:
Northland (Home team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 8th August 2026 | NPC | Bay of Plenty | 34-31 |
| Won | 2nd August 2026 | NPC | Manawatu | 40-14 |
| Loss | 4th October 2025 | NPC | Waikato | 25-19 |
| Draw | 28th September 2025 | NPC | Canterbury | 10-19 |
| Won | 21st September 2025 | NPC | North Harbour | 37-12 |
Northland followed up their strong opening win against Manawatū with a narrow loss to the Bay of Plenty. They started poorly and were 24-5 down just before half-time. Northland started the fightback right away and got a try back deep into the red before half-time. They scored three tries in the second half, conceding one to bring the scores level with 10 minutes to go, and the Bay of Plenty were down to 14 men. The Bay of Plenty kicked a penalty with three minutes to go to win by three points.
Taranaki Bulls (Away team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 7th August 2026 | NPC | Waikato | 32-38 |
| Won | 1st August 2026 | NPC | Counties Maukau | 5-20 |
| Loss | 11th October 2025 | NPC Playoffs | Hawkes Bay | 26-12 |
| Loss | 5th October 2025 | NPC | Canterbury | 34-14 |
| Won | 27th September 2025 | NPC | Wellington | 39-20 |
Taranaki lost their first home game to Waikato, having won their first game of the season at Counties Manukau. Waikato flew out in front and were 31-12 ahead of the Bulls shortly after halftime. With 20 minutes to go Taranaki were 38-17 behind with 20 minutes to go. Taranaki scored two more tries and found themselves eight points behind. With the clock in the red, they opted to kick a penalty to get a losing bonus point.
Northland vs Taranaki Bulls head-to-head record (last five matches):
| Date | Competition | Winner | Score |
| 2nd August 2025 | NPC | Taranaki Bulls | 23-3 |
| 9th August 2023 | NPC | Taranaki Bulls | 13-28 |
| 7th August 2022 | NPC | Northland | 11-13 |
| 15th August 2021 | NPC | Taranaki Bulls | 14-48 |
| 3rd October 2020 | NPC | Northland | 35-25 |
Taranaki have won three of the last four meetings against Northland, with two of those three wins coming at Northland. There have not been any teams that have scored over 30 points in the last three meetings, with all of these three matches being decided by 20 points or less.
