North Harbour 25 Bay of Plenty 7
Someone must have popped some pepper in North Harbour's halftime drinks at Mt Maunganui.
After a distinctly average first-half effort, from which they took a 3-0 advantage, but could easily have been well behind, Harbour sparked into life and rattled on three
tries to beat Bay of Plenty.
With Luke McAlister organising things smartly, and the forwards growing in cohesion, they were well worth their third straight win in a game which rarely reached great heights.
The key moment came 11 minutes after the interval, when McAlister and halfback Junior Poluleuligaga provided the spark and George Pisi the dashing finish for a fine try.
That gave Harbour a cushion and when Pisi charged down a Rena Schuster kick ahead four minutes later, made ground smartly and gave speedy wing Viliame Waqaseduadua a clear run to the line, it was as good as game over. There was another try from close range for replacement hooker Roger Dustow and small consolation for the Bay in the form of a try to prop James Afoa.
Harbour locks Greg Rawlinson and Doug Fletcher were good value, as was No 8 Nick Williams, apart from a brain freeze when he squandered a certain try by not passing to the unmarked Poluleuligaga.
Captain Rua Tipoki showed some of his quick-stepping touches as the game wore on, while the general defensive work was of a high order.
The Bay should have done better. They had chances, crucially in the run-up to halftime when they were camped near the Harbour line, and were strong at the set pieces. But the scoreboard had the only numbers which counted.
"We were pretty happy at halftime. We thought we could put some pressure on them. But Harbour got rolling and outgunned us. They played smarter, tougher rugby," Bay captain Ben Castle said.
As assessments go, that's hard to top.
