Harbour win has a little bit extra

A 35-10 win by North Harbour over Northland under lights at Albany was flattering, rewarding and had a bonus for selector-coach Russell Jones for the upcoming NPC.

The win was flattering because a four-to-one try ratio emerged only in the last five minutes when Northland, trailing 21-10, threw discretion to the breeze and Harbour picked up two converted tries from unforced errors.

Harbour learned lessons from the previous weekend, when they trailed Taranaki 19-0 in the first quarter. On Saturday night, they conceded no points in the first 20 minutes, and by halftime were 18-0 ahead and in control.

The bonus was the debut, and 15-point contribution, of 18-year-old Luke McAlister in the No 10 jersey.

A product of Westlake Boys High School, McAlister, a member of New Zealand under-19 and under-21 sides at world championships this year, has a rugby pedigree. His father, Charlie, was a Taranaki and New Zealand Maori representative, and grandfather Arthur Collins a Taranaki All Black in 1932 and 1934.

In an easy-as-you-go debut with few thrills, McAlister had good liaison with Mark Robinson behind the pack. There were signs of nifty footwork in the change of direction to the blindside flank, setting up wing Rod Penney for the first of his two tries.

Playing at night to give players experience under lights, both teams made changes in the final quarter.

There were pantomime scenes from rehashed combinations as McAlister added a third penalty, Penney, flat-footed outside the Northland 22, intercepted a forward pass and scored, and Robinson capitalised from another Northland blue, also scampering from the 22 for his second try.

* In Hamilton, Waikato completed their brief NPC build-up with a 29-9 win over Bay of Plenty, scoring five tries to none.

In a stop-start match marred by mistakes and constant killing of the ball in the rucks, a second-string Waikato line-up still proved too strong for the visitors.

Waikato led 10-3 at halftime playing into the wind, loosehead prop Michael Collins and centre Regan King scoring unconverted tries in the opening 25 minutes.

The game deteriorated from there, with Bay first five-eighth Glen Jackson and his replacement Tyrone Taiepa kicking their team to within a point of Waikato after 26 minutes of a disappointing second spell that lacked any flow.

Taiepa then missed a chance to put the visitors in front and in the last 10 minutes Waikato inflated the score with three late tries as the Bay defence wilted.

Replacement prop Deacon Manu scored two of the tries and impressive young centre King also picked up his second, with replacement first five-eighth David Hill converting two of them.

Collins and locks Keith Robinson and Sean Hohneck had strong games in the Waikato pack, while first five-eighth Derek Maisey added some nice touches while the game was flowing early.

* In New Plymouth, Taranaki scored three tries to one to head off Wellington 20-10.

Taranaki trailed 10-8 at halftime, but used the wind better in the second spell to score a deserved win.

There was little in the way of sparkling rugby to warm the 1500-strong crowd, with both sides basing most of their attacks close to the rucks and mauls.