Rawlinson locked into the Harbour cause

Greg Rawlinson is relishing being injury free and thriving on having more responsibility. Picture / Greg Bowker

Most decent teams have one. Some have two.

Think of Brad Mika at Auckland; Paul Tito at Taranaki; Bernie Upton at Bay of Plenty. The rock at the heart of the pack.

At North Harbour, it's Greg Rawlinson and he's been a strong presence in their bid for the semifinals this year.

The 27-year-old South African has been as good as anyone in the country at dominating the lineouts and, relishing an injury-free run, has been good value around the park with ball in hand.

"There's always stuff to work on but I'm pretty happy with things," Rawlinson said. "This is the first time I've started without being injured, so I've been able to focus on my game rather than worry if I was going to make it through the game."

Tonight Rawlinson and his reliable sidekick, Marty Veale, will square off with Upton and his regular Tonto, Mark Sorenson, in Rotorua as Harbour look to get their top-four ca

mpaign back on track.

Things were looking good until they fell apart in the second half against Otago at Carisbrook last week. A 13-6 lead at the interval turned into a baffling 13-21 loss.

"Up until halftime things were pretty sweet," Rawlinson said. "It's hard to say what it was, but maybe we need to work a bit more on communication between the backs and forwards."

Rawlinson arrived in New Zealand in 2002 when he joined Bay of Plenty - making his debut against Harbour in a pre-season game at Rotorua - before switching to Harbour for the next season.

After a taste of Super 12 with a solitary appearance for the Sharks in 2003, he's been at the Blues in the past two seasons.

The New Zealand Rugby Union say Rawlinson is ineligible for the All Blacks until about the middle of next year, by which time he should have fulfilled the various eligibility criteria.

He was in Springbok coach Jake White's sights briefly this year.

"I was at Jonah Lomu's game in England and at the time a couple of the South African locks were injured. I was taken by surprise when next thing I got a call from Jake White. We had a chat but things didn't work out at that stage."

That was then, and as for now Rawlinson reckons his chances of playing for his home country are remote.

"I wouldn't say I'd never go back, but I don't really see that happening in the near future."

Long term his ambitions may lie in black, but for the moment it's all about getting Harbour into the last four. Much will depend on tonight.

"Harbour's a team which seem to lose players every year and have to start rebuilding," Rawlinson said. "This time the rebuilding happened a bit earlier, and there's a good spirit in the team."

Harbour coach Allan Pollock reckons Rawlinson's game is benefiting from increased responsibility.

"Last year, Marty ran lineouts. This year it's been handed over to Greg," Pollock said. "When you give individuals an increased workload and responsibility some guys really thrive and it's happened in this case.

"As good as his individual game is, he's taken ownership of that part of our game."

Greg Rawlinson

Born: August 14, 1978, Durban, South Africa.

Height: 2m

Weight: 114kg

Position: Lock

TeamsSuper 12: Sharks (2003), Blues (2004-05).NPC: Bay of Plenty (2003), North Harbour (2003- 05).