Mates face off in Harbour final

Walter Little, left, and Blair Larsen size each other up before the big match. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Old friends and former teammates in provincial and international rugby, Blair Larsen and Walter Little, have indulged each other in a bombardment of good-natured banter this week leading into today's North Harbour premier club final between Takapuna and Glenfield.

The former All Blacks are the rival coaches of the respective sides at a time in the modern professional era when it is becoming increasingly rare for one-time top players to be active at club levels.

"When Walter's team [Glenfield] made the final I was one of the first to ring him to congratulate him," Larsen said as the pair met yesterday to swap predictions. "We have actually seen a lot of each in the past year or so. My business [milk distribution] and Walter's [scaffolding] are both based in Silverdale and only about 300 metres apart.

"It's neat that we are coaching teams against each other in a final because we go back a long way, to when we were about 17 and in opposing school teams and then on to playing for Harbour and the All Blacks."

Larsen is in his second season in charge of Takapuna premiers and in his second final, losing out to Massey last year.

Little's last game as a player was in the 2000 final, but this is his first as a coach after he took over the premier side, with forward specialist Mark Hellyer, in 2004.

Larsen agrees it is now unusual for professional players to return to clubs, but believes that what was once the standard start for aspiring coaches still has advantages.

"Club rugby is still an important breeding ground for players," he said. "As a club coach you deal with all issues."

Little, who will be one of Harbour's coaches in the provincial B competition this season, describes coaching a club as a tough job, which makes him appreciate what the highest levels go through.

But he said making a final "makes it rewarding".

For Little, a big satisfaction in making that final is that Glenfield have a mainly young side, many still being in their teens. Any inexperience, though, is offset by older heads like halfback Brett Ingham and lock Jeremy Hikuroa. He also has a strong coaching team in Hellyer, former Warriors coach Tony Kemp, who has provided an improving defence and tight forward specialist Ray Wells.

Little and Larsen agree that the format used for this year's premiership has caused some debate in Harbour circles, particularly as Glenfield finished only eighth in the qualifying round roundrobin and neither the top two sides, Massey and Marist, had the benefit of either two lives or a repechange system.

Little, however, makes no apologies for Glenfield's late charge, pointing out his team had back-to-back wins in the playoffs against Massey and Marist.

And although Larsen believes that the format may be reviewed in the offseason nothing can be taken away from Glenfield, who have done all that could be expected of them.

In their earlier meetings this season, Takapuna had two narrow wins and Larsen was expecting a competitive match today.

Both sides will be close to full strength, despite Harbour having taken some key players. Takapuna, though, will miss flanker Chad Dallow, who was injured last weekend.