North Harbour Representative Rugby Report – 10 September

North Harbour Representative Rugby Report – 10 September

North Harbour Men’s B.  The B's steam rolled BOP B at Windsor Park on Saturday to win 38-15.  Both teams played with passion and the discipline from Harbour was the key for their first victory. 

The track at Windsor Park was hard and dry and saw tries to Toketa Fatai  followed by Adam Batt with a perfect charge down, and Blake Hall also looking for the inside ball pass which connected right under the sticks with the reliable Jon Elrick adding the extra's.  The halftime score was 21-10 with Elrick steering the ship downwind and the Harbour backs started to run with Daniel Lee dotting down, and substitute Callum Law coming on with 20 minutes to go slicing through the BOP defence. Both conversions were successful along with a late penalty from Jon Elrick who contributed 13 points.

Harbour Hibiscus Women played their maiden game on QBE Stadium this season against an experienced Manawatu Cyclones team who were running hot after their victory over Waikato the week before.  Manawatu opened the scoring and controlled territory in the first half, limiting the attacking opportunities for the Hibiscus.  Black Fern Selica Winiata featured predominately scoring two well taken tries.    Harbour Hibiscus took a breather at the halftime break down 3-22 and then decided to score a few tries of their own.   The Hibiscus found another gear kept hold of the ball played with speed, width and scored 3 great tries to Rina Paraone, Briar MacNamara and Pia Tapsell. In the end Manawatu held on to win what was an exciting FPC game 29-24.   This week the Hibiscus travel down to Dunedin and face The Otago Spirit in a curtain raiser to the Harbour vs Otago Mitre 10 cup fixture at Forsyth Barr.

North Harbour Under 18’s. Auckland defeated North Harbour 29-20.  Harbour started slow and were falling off tackles in the first half allowing Auckland to go into the break 15-10 through Harbour errors.  Auckland scored first in the 2nd half which made the fight back all that much harder, but Harbour  were a different team in 2nd half and tackled harder and played smarter rugby.  The boys finished knowing they had played a tough game and wondering about the slow start in the first 35mins.

North Harbour U85Kg team hosted Waikato at Silverdale and the Mooloo’s got out to an early lead.  Tries to Jarrod Soar and Scott Vaughan pushed the score to 15-7 to Harbour.  Waikato countered with two tries prior to half-time to take the lead 17-15.  Back came Harbour in the second half with two Soar penalties and a try to Jimmy Napier to be in front 28-17.   Waikato came back with a forwards’ push-over try but too late.  Player of the day was lock Luke Spratt.

Under 18 Girls.  For the North Harbour U18 Girls it was always going to be a difficult assignment against Auckland West.    Harbour led 12-7 at the break and played well against a bigger opposition but lost 22-19 in the final analysis.  Isla Norman-Bell had a great game on the wing and was player of the day.  The Girls face Auckland East this Saturday 17 September.

North Harbour Under 16 Cardinal.  Auckland Central started strongly and scored twice in the first 10 mins.  Harbour finally got into the game and was able to kick a penalty after 20 minutes.  Harbour enjoyed it’s best period over the next 10 mins but was only able to add another penalty.  Central scored a converted try on the half time whistle taking the lead 17 – 6.  Harbour turned with the wind and a degree of confidence however the physicality started to take its toll with a number of Harbour injuries resulting in a re-shuffled line up.  Central ran away with it 34 – 6 but Harbour never gave up.

North Harbour Under 16 White.  As expected Auckland West came to play and the early exchanges showed exactly that. Once North Harbour weathered the early storm, they then settled into their rhythm and executed their game plan and started to apply the constant pressure. Joshua Corrigan used his size and pace to split the defence and score twice through decisive and deceptive running. Jordyn Evans also scored twice through hard, physical running and Taylor Norwood finished the job with a sniping run to dot down under the sticks. All in all, a polished performance from White. A few things to work on but everyone was happy with the 36-17 bonus point win.

The North Harbour Under 14 Cardinal team turned up for their second game and were soon on attack. After some good team play and plenty of pressure the side were first on the scoreboard with an excellent try to Tim Carter at the 10 minute mark. This was converted by Sam Charleton-Maunder to give Harbour the early lead 7-0. Auckland came back on attack and after a period of strong defence scored their first try at the 18 minute mark, which was converted.   Harbour swept back on to attack and were rewarded with a penalty which Sam kicked to give the half-time lead to Harbour 10-7. The second half was a close affair but this didn’t show on the scoreboard with Auckland crossing for 4 tries. To the Harbour sides credit they never gave up and again pushed hard on attack.  While the Harbour side pushed hard the stout Auckland defence kept the boys out for a final score-line of 10-27. The player of the day was Ned Barry whose brilliant defence kept us in the game for long periods of the day.           

The North Harbour Under 14 White team were beaten by Auckland West 48-5.  It was a disappointing second half effort by the Harbour U16 White team.  After a promising first 30 minutes, the players kept themselves in the game and trailed 10-5 at half-time.  Unfortunately the defence in the second half lapsed and Auckland West made the most of their opportunities.