Harbour make most of chances

By WYNNE GRAY

Calm young Harbour midfielder Luke McAlister shrugged off his conspicuous error last week to guide his side to a stellar 34-32 NPC victory against Auckland on Saturday.

While Auckland welcomed back five more All Blacks, it was Harbour who showed great tenacity to climb from a 3-22 deficit to beat their more celebrated rivals for the first time at Eden Park since 1998.

McAlister was perhaps the most prominent example of Harbour's undaunted outlook as they arrived for the game without an NPC victory this season.

His solo break should have earned a win last week against Wellington until he ignored his support and was tackled short of the line.

"I knew straightaway it was a mistake but others have made worse," he said.

"I just tried to move on, put it behind me. I backed myself but it did not come off."

On Saturday, McAlister and his team-mates continued to back themselves after a horror start.

They conceded a try to Sam Tuitupou inside 10 seconds from the kickoff and put themselves under huge pressure with mistakes as they tried to attack from inside their own 22.

They also had to deal with disallowed tries to Rico Gear and McAlister and then gifting a try to Auckland's Sione Lauaki as their scrum disintegrated.

But this Auckland team are not a patch on the side that have won the last two NPC campaigns.

With a sizeable lead and setpiece domination where loosehead prop Saimone Taumoepeau excelled, they found a new way to lose this fourth-round match.

Most of the 17,000 crowd could have been excused for a united "how the hell did that happen" comment at the final whistle.

In the end ticker and talent outmanoeuvred possession and pedantry.

Outgunned at setpiece, Craig Newby led the looseforward counter and scored the try to kickstart the Harbour reply when he charged down a Carlos Spencer clearance.

Harbour thumped into tackles with real venom, they attacked the breakdowns and when they got some ball, the brilliance of their backs glittered against the stodge of Auckland.

Gear was gliding magic, his swerve and fend on Mils Muliaina for the winning try was all class, McAlister and Anthony Tuitavake were midfield titans and Nick Evans' speed saved tries and his punting, including one 80m boomer, was a weapon.

Auckland suffered from goalkicking frailties.

They missed four from seven attempts, including a 20m shot from Spencer close to the posts before he reneged on the conversion of Ben Atiga's fine solo try. From a handy position, Atiga then pushed the kick wide.

It was an inglorious display, compounded by several earlier decisions to ignore kicks at goal. The cost was simple looking at the Harbour scoresheet.

McAlister kicked all of his six attempts including the last two conversions from the sideline.

"I just try to keep to the same routine and hope like hell they go over," he said modestly.

Equally gracious was Harbour coach Allan Pollock, who in praising his side's courage also noted the time restraints Auckland had trying to blend the All Blacks into their side.

It meant, Pollock said, that Auckland had a restricted gameplan, one Harbour could counter with strong defence.

They had also decided to attack Auckland with the ball rather than kick it anywhere near their dangerous back three.

The tactics were right, although the execution was rusty for the first 30 minutes.

Even though Harbour were well behind on the scoreboard, key signs for Pollock that his side were starting to function were the disallowed tries.

And once they eventually hit the lead, he admired the way the forwards were able to wind the clock down in the last few minutes.

Victory was some relief after two close losses and a draw.

"We have blown a few games we should have won this year," halfback Billy Fulton said.

Harbour had not panicked about conceding such a lead because they had recovered from a similar plight against Canterbury.

When there is much debate in this NPC about rookie coaches and inexperienced players, it was the composure of McAlister, who turned 21 a week before, which shone through in this cross-city contest. He deflected any personal praise after the game.

"They were coming at us in wave after wave but deep down we all had the self-belief," he suggested. "We had to put the first half behind us.

"I don't think I have ever beaten Auckland before. It was great."

For Auckland there was nothing to say except they would continue to scrap for a playoff place like they had in the past few seasons.

NPC fixtures, results and standings

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