Harbour bow out on a high
North Harbour farewelled coach Wayne Pivac with a 57-28 Air New Zealand Cup win over Counties Manukau at Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday.
North Harbour farewelled coach Wayne Pivac with a 57-28 Air New Zealand Cup win over Counties Manukau at Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday.
The outcome of this Round Ten clash had no bearing on the quarter-finals, but at least it served as a source of satisfaction for Pivac who ended a frustrating two-season tenure on a mild high.
North Harbour provisionally improved to tenth while Counties will finish thirteenth, ahead of wooden spooners Manawatu.
The visitors showed how much a difference their All Blacks could make to their side with Anthony Tuitavake, Rudi Wulf and Anthony Boric all causing havoc amongst a determined Steelers outfit.
Captain Jimmy Gopperth also marked news of his permanent move from Wellington with a 27-point haul – the highest individual tally in this year's competition.
North Harbour opened the scoring when prop James Afoa intercepted an attempted long pass from Counties pivot Tasesa Lavea and set sail on a fifty metre run to the tryline in the twelfth minute for an opportunistic touchdown.
The All Black duo of Tuitavake and Boric combined their strengths for North Harbour's next try with the latter picking up the ball following a strong drive from his team-mate and charging forward to get over the line.
Any thoughts that North Harbour were getting on top was almost immediately dispelled when Lavea fed a short pass to Lelia Masaga who split the defence and then found fellow winger Sherwin Stowers running alongside him in support for their opening score in the 19th minute.
Counties kept up their momentum with a try to 130kg prop Tauefe Palelei who proved unstoppable close to the line for the hosts to level the contest at 14-all thanks to a Dean Cummins conversion.
After the break, the momentum shift was only temporary though as Tuitavake waltzed through a scrambling Counties defence following a Gopperth line break.
Then almost straight away from a kick ahead, Counties Manukau's outside backs allowed the ball to bounce and it was Gopperth, following through, who toed ahead, got the bounce and added the try and conversion as North Harbour advanced the score by 14 points in the space of two minutes.
Wulf's quick thinking then enabled Anthony Tuitavake's brother, Nafi, to score his first of two tries of the match when a quick line-out caught the home side unawares.
Anthony Tuitavake's second try, in the 70th minute and from 70 metres, was an example of his power and skill.
Refusing to lie down, the home side struck back from a Lavea break which saw the ball pass through several hands before New Zealand sevens captain and Steelers flanker DJ Forbes dived over for Counties' third try.
In almost the last act of the game, Masaga got to score his first try of the competition to help Counties Manukau to a consolation bonus point defeat.
The scorers:
Counties Manukau:
Tries: Stowers, Paulelei, Forbes, Masaga
Con: Cummins 3, Koiatu
North Harbour:
Tries: Afoa, Boric, A Tuitavake 2, Gopperth 2, N Tuitavake 2
Cons: Gopperth 7
Pen: Gopperth
Counties Manukau: 15 Koiatu Koiatu, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Dean Cummins, 11 Sherwin Stowers, 10 Tasesa Lavea (c), 9 Kevin Farrell, 8 Gary Saifoloi, 7 DJ Forbes, 6 Fritz Lee, 5 Andrew Van der Heijden, 4 Jamie Chipman, 3 Simon Lemalu, 2 Lance Po-ching, 1 Tuaefe Palelei.
Replacements: 16 Ilaisa Maasi, 17 Kojak Faioso, 18 Rupeni Nasiga, 19 Mark Selwyn, 20 Samisoni Fisilau, 21 Jason Roache, 22 Tanner Vili.
North Harbour: 15 Jack McPhee, 14 Josh York, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Nafi Tuitavake, 11 Rudi Wulf, 10 Jimmy Gopperth (c), 9 Chris Smylie, 8 Viliame Maafu, 7 Malakai Ravulo, 6 Chris Smith, 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Anthony Boric, 3 Michael Reid, 2 James Hinchco, 1 James Afoa.
Replacements: 16 James Parsons, 17 Sam Biddles, 18 Martin Purdy, 19 Robbie Colhoun, 20 Matt France, 21 Ray Alo/Tom Chamberlain, 22 Viliame Waqaseduadua.
Referee: Kelvin Deaker
TMO: Vinny Munro