Cool hand Luke rues North Harbour's missed win

We should have been lauding a great NPC try at Albany.

The headline might have read "Luke warms Harbour's heart", or "Luke runs hot".

Instead, Luke McAlister was left lamenting the try that got away, which sums up North Harbour right now.

After a ho-hum first half, yesterday's match under a blazing sun turned into a thriller.

Wellington prevailed through a spread-them-wide defence which held out a Harbour onslaught reminiscent of their fightback draw against Canterbury. The Lions prevailed by two points to win 18-16, retaining their unbeaten record and top-four position, while Harbour are beginning to drift.

Once again, Harbour's swashbuckling cavalry arrived just too late. Their backs can destroy, but are mounting rearguard actions only. With Nick Evans and Hosea Gear set to join Harbour's foreign legion after this season, they are in danger of missing a golden chance to mount a bid for their first title.

Back to McAlister. What a talent. Wellington had built an 18-11 lead going in to the final quarter with the wind at their backs.

Harbour, with a ball-in-hand policy, released the shackles. And if you are looking for a conjurer in these situations, few can rival McAlister, the young Harbour second five-eighths. With three minutes left, and Wellington leading 18-16, McAlister collected the ball on his 20m line and delved into his bag of tricks.

Faced with another sweeping line of Wellington defenders, he chipped over, regathered, squirmed and raced free, seemed to have twirled past the lunge of Lome Fa'atau, and then somehow spilled the ball with the line at his mercy and the headline writers poised.

McAlister said: "Nick Evans gave the ball to me and I didn't know what the hell I was going to do. I looked up and just saw a line coming toward me, so I though I'd give a chip a go.

"I fended Lome, but he managed to get one arm in and knock the ball out. I thought I'd got through. I should have held the ball instead of trying the fend. And I had a few outside me. I probably should have passed."

Ifs, buts and maybes. That's the Harbour story right now.

McAlister also missed a sideline conversion and medium-range drop goal into the wind in the final stages, as Harbour poured on the pressure, although without quite the poise to strike from better positions.

You've got to give Wellington their due. They clung on again, as they did for a draw against Otago at Carisbrook.

Harbour coach Allan Pollock said: "Wellington play a very wide defensive line. They let the ball-carrier come to them. Wherever the ball meets the tackle line, they defend with the three closest players. The other 12 fan off and wait for you to come at them again.

"We tried to keep the ball up and maul a little bit more, and involve more than three of their defenders. But when it's helter-skelter in the last few seconds, that's a great defence system to have."

Wellington coach John Plumtree was hardly whooping with delight.

"Our defence has been pretty good, but we've got to do our share of attacking. We know we can improve 100 per cent."

There were some moments of real magic in this game. Wellington launched a brilliant 100m move from a turnover for Fa'atau to score, with Shannon Paku providing a clever final pass, and Wellington halfback Piri Weepu and Harbour wings Hosea Gear and Rudi Wulf made desperate tackles to prevent tries.

And Ma'a Nonu, whose first-half lifting tackle on McAlister warrants judicial attention, was in imposing form.

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