Well, all good things come to an end, and today our unbeaten record in 2017, and 13 home win streak were ended by a Cantab side who showed resilience and ability to retain composure, justifying their status at the apex of the NZ domestic rugby ladder. The 41-28 victory keeps the table toppers in the #1 spot in the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership, and gifted the QBE North Harbour faithful a lesson in perspective, having been dealt our first loss of the 2017 campaign after 6 games
It was a magnificent Harbour start with a Murphy Taramai break down the left wing feeding infield to Bryn Gatland and on to Matt Duffie, who scored under the sticks inside the first 3 minutes, which has become something of a trademark for this side. Gatland converted and Harbour were 7-0 up after 3.
Other sides in this competition have shown signs of defeat inside the first 20 minutes this year when playing Harbour, but Canterbury showed they had no intentions of being daunted by the 4600 strong Harbour faithful, the home winning record of their hosts, or the tenacity of the surprise package of the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup competition, and found gaps in the midfield several times in the first stanza.
Richie Mo’unga picked up the visitors first try of the day with a simple dummy 5m out from the Harbour line, and duly converted making it 7-7 after 12 minutes.
Harbour replied instantly through Gerard Cowley-Tuioti who went over after a forward based advance and good ball control, and Gatland’s conversion meant Harbour led 14-7 after 14.
Mo’unga added 3 more after Harbour were penalised for collapsing the scrum inside the 22, but Harrison Groundwater scored minutes later, being the recipient of a Moala-Liava’a bust (my Man-of-the-Match - Ed), following a Ben Volavola break down the left flank. Gatland was on song again converting from 15m in from touch, and Harbour were ahead at the break 21-10.
The 4600+ crowd had plenty to feel optimistic about heading into the second half, but a horror start by the home side let in 14 points straight after oranges through tries to Tim Bateman and Mitchell Drummond, both converted by Mo’unga, and Canterbury gained the lead for the first time 24-21 after 46 minutes.
Canterbury scored again at 58 minutes through a bust through the middle with Josh McKay dotting down, and 2 more to Mo’unga made the score 31-21. Drummond sniped around the ruck to pick up his second of the day, and Shaun Stevenson crossed later for Harbour's bonus point try at 73 minutes collecting a Gatland wipers kick, which Gatland converted retaining his 100 % kicking record for the day. However, the damage was done and with a final 3-pointer, Canterbury ran our deserved victors 41-28.
We took plenty out of this though:
We picked up a bonus point, we retained our place at in the top 4 of the Premiership ladder and we put the rest of the teams in the comp on notice that we can score 4 tries against Canterbury with a 65-minute effort. Head up boys. We learn from this and we improve, which will certainly be a daunting prospect for the rest of the teams to face the Hibiscus in the remaining games of the season. Next game is at home v Hawkes Bay on Friday 29th.
QBE North Harbour 28 (Matt Duffie, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Harrison Groundwater, Shaun Stevenson tries; Bryn Gatland 4 con)
Canterbury 41 (Richie Mo'unga, Tim Bateman, Mitch Drummond 2, Josh McKay tries; Mo'unga 5 con, 2 pen).
HT: 21-10
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