So it was a drizzly old Day in Albany, but the Harbour faithful that braved the elements weren’t disappointed as the class of 2017 continued where they left off in 2016 with a win over Otago.
The 19-17 scoreline reflected a true game of two halves where Harbour owned the first 40 through forward dominance and non-negotiable defence, and the forwards stood up in the miserable conditions. The new look front row of Chris Eves, skipper James Parsons, and Mike Tamoaieta gelled superbly in their first outing together, locks Gerard Cowley-Tuioti and Jarrad Hoeata looked like they’d been playing together for years, and the loose forward trio of Preston, Collett and Taramai showed that the Harbour forward pack is going to be one to make people sit up and take notice, especially with Super players Nic Mayhew, Sione Mafileo, and Adrian Smith on the pine.
The backs were driven well by Gatland at pivot, and the Harbour score went up in multiples of three thanks to his boot at the 16, 19, and 29 minute marks. Gatland also made a sneaky little break to feed Shaun Stevenson his first try in Harbour colours since Roller Mills days, and the conversion made it 16-0 at the break.
Gatland added 3 more just after half time but that would be the last time Harbour would trouble the scoreboard operators. Harbours dominance of the first half was replaced by Otago’s resilience, and the visitors scored impressive tries at the 63 and 69 minute marks to give Otago momentum, and threatening Harbours 19-17 lead heading into the last 10 minutes.
Harbour woke up and defended hard till the final whistle and collected their first win of the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup. Next game V Southland in Invercargill, Thursday August 24, 7:35pm kick off.
Harbour 19 (Shaun Stevenson try, Bryn Gatland 4p, c)
Otago 17 (Jonathan Ruru, Mitchell Scott tries, Josh Ioane p 2c)
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