Li the hero as North Harbour thrash Taranaki

Tevita Li led the way with an impressive try-scoring display as North Harbour beat Taranaki 64-33 in their Mitre 10 Cup clash in Albany on Sunday.

Li was the home side’s hero as he scored five of North Harbour’s 10 tries although Taranaki did manage to claim a bonus point, after scoring four tries, which secured them top spot in the standings ahead of next weekend’s semi-finals.

Harbour made a terrific start and raced into a 26-0 lead thanks to a brace of tries from Li and further five-pointers from Bryn Hall and Shaun Stevenson. The ‘Naki eventually opened their account via a Declan O’Donnell try in the 26th minute but Harbour regained the initiative when Li secured his hat-trick seven minutes later.

To their credit, Taranaki fought back and tries from Jared Profitt and Ciarahn Matoe meant North Harbour led 33-19 at half-time. Harbour extended their lead when Matt Duffie dotted down, 10 minutes after the restart, but Taranaki responed via an Adrian Wyrill try on the hour-mark.

Shortly afterwards, Li crossed for his fourth try before James Parsons brought up Harbour’s half century when he scored a five-pointer in the 67th minute.

Five minutes later, Taranaki secured their bonus point courtesy of Matoe’s second try before Matt Vaega scored his side’s ninth try in the 74th minute.

And shortly before the end, Li crowned a memorable match when he scored his fifth try and in doin so, he equalled the union’s try-scoring record which was set by Glenn Davis against Poverty Bay-East Coast in 1999.

Sunday’s result means Taranaki will host Tasman in their semi-final in New Plymouth while North Harbour head to Christchurch where they will take on Canterbury.

The scorers:

For North Harbour:
Tries: Li 5, Hall, Stevenson, Duffie, Parsons, Vaega
Cons: Volavola 5, Dolan 2

For Taranaki:
Tries: Matoe 2, O’Donnell, Proffit, Wyril
Cons: Matoe 4

North Harbour: 15 Shaun Stevenson, 14 Matt Duffie, 13 Matt Vaega, 12 Daniel Hilton Jones, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Murphy Taramai, 7 Connor Collett, 6 Glenn Preston, 5 Jarrad Hoeata, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Michael Tamoaieta, 2 James Parsons, 1 Chris Eves
Replacements: 16 Steven Misa, 17 Adrian Smith, 18 Karl Tuinukuafe, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 Hapakuki Moala-Liavaa, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Harrison Groundwater, 23 Todd Doolan

Taranaki: 15 Charlie Ngatai, 14 Jackson Ormond, 13 Johnny Fa’auli, 12 Daniel Waite, 11 Declan O’Donnell, 10 Ciarahn Matoe, 9 Kylem O’Donnell, 8 Tom Florence, 7 Adrian Wyrill, 6 Fin Hoeata, 5 Micaiah Torrance, 4 Brad Tucker, 3 Reuben O’Neill, 2 Donald Maka, 1 Jared Profitt
Replacements: 16 Bradley Slater, 17 Mike Kainga, 18 Asaeli Sorovaki, 19 Leon Power, 20 Sione Lea, 21 Logan Crowley, 22 Warwick Lahmert, 23 Avon Lewis

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe