Northland were once again denied a spot in the Northern Regional Development final after a second-half comeback by North Harbour in the Silverdale semifinal.
The Northland side went down 16-22 on Saturday after leading 11-3 at the break, a turnaround from their 23-16 win over Harbour during pool play.
Inspirational skipper Matt
Harrison got the side off to a good start with an early try and Mike Wiringi added two penalties in the first spell to Harbours' penalty.
Harbour began to edge their way back into the game in the second spell and added two penalties before big prop Paea Fa'anunu crossed to extend the Northland lead to 16-9.
It was 16-12 with six minutes to go when Harbour crossed for their decisive try, to take a three-point lead and they added another penalty in the final minute to complete the scoring.
Northland manager Macka Sandilands said Harbour were probably lucky to get the advantage of refereeing decisions, particularly in the second spell when both sides were guilty of ill-discipline.
"Some of the penalties, especially the ones that went against us in the rucks were questionable.
"Both teams had hands in the rucks but the referee seemed to notice ours first," he said. "It was a very tight game but one that we could have won, and perhaps should have won but that's sport for you."
He said the team were disappointed they couldn't improve on their best result in the competition - the semifinals last year - but after training well during the week the management had no complaints with their efforts.
"I think we had the team to go all the way this year but it wasn't to be," Sandilands said.
He said Harrison and loose forward Dan Mason had been inspirational in leading the forwards, with the pack leading the way during the tough season.
