Auckland have suffered an early road bump in their Premiership title defence after drawing 28-28 with North Harbour in a thrilling Mitre 10 Cup opener.
The fans who braved the wet weather at Eden Park were treated to a try fest in a typically feisty 'Battle of the Bridge', withNorth Harbour overcoming a slow start to claim a hard-fought draw against the defending champs.
After capturing their first title since 2007 over Canterbury in last year's final, Auckland looked like the inconsistent side of old – showing signs of rust and fatigue, especially as the game went on.
The home side rocketed out of the blocks, seemingly still buzzing from last year's triumph, as Blues centre Tanielu Tele'a scored after five minutes in one of Auckland's four tries in the first half.
However, the shine seemed to wear off in the second half as North Harbour started to dominate the game in every department.
But it was North Harbour who were left to rue a baffling decision not to take a three-pointer right in front of the posts with the game tied in a tense final few minutes, opting instead to kick for touch.
The lineout eventually led to a try, but was later disallowed by the TMO after Bryn Hall was judged to have knocked it on during the buildup.
A late penalty awarded to Harbour gave No 10 Jared Page one final chance to steal victory for the visitors, but his 44 metre kick drifted wide leaving it all level in a memorable start to the season for both teams.
After the match, a disappointed Auckland captain TJ Faiane said he was relieved with the draw after an intense 80 minutes.
"Credit to Harbour. They put it to us for 80. But I guess a draw is better than a loss. So it's [time to] get back to the drawing board and get ready for Northland."
Auckland 28 (Tanielu Tele'a, Hoskins Sotutu 2 tries; Harry Plummer 3 cons; penalty try) North Harbour 28 (Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Luatangi Li tries; Jared Page 4 cons). Halftime: 28-14.
