Counties Manukau 24
North Harbour 23
After 80 minutes of end-to-end rugby, there was just a lick of paint on the uprights to separate Counties Manukau from North Harbour.
Capping a desperately tight finish to an engrossing match, Harbour No10 Michael Harris watched his sideline conversion hit the post following Nafi Tutavake's try. Craig Dowd's men will feel their fine late rally deserved reward, but Counties had done well to absorb 15 minutes of pressure, and the first half had belonged to the hosts.
ITM Cup standings
Tana Umaga has declared an interest in playing Super Rugby next season, but played the first 40 minutes yesterday like a man planning to go one level higher.
He started and finished the move for the first try. A clean angled break and sweet offload to Ahsee Tuala started the move and he finished it with an even sharper angle from the right flank, cutting back to score near the posts.
Umaga had a hand in the second try, a neat offload sparking the move that saw Tim Nanai-Williams skin Ken Pisi and fend off Luke McAlister. Harbour's tackling was poor.
But Counties couldn't capitalise on a surfeit of breaks and possession. Tuala came closest to getting a third after Dean Cummins sent a deep, angled kick behind the Harbour outside backs.
The Harbour bench emptied early, as injuries took a reluctant McAlister from the field along with captain Michael Reid.
When prop Ben Afeaki got one for the visitors after a rare spell in the Counties 22, it seemed those lost opportunities would weigh heavily. The 14-10 halftime score seemed a shade light.
Cummins added three points from a breakdown penalty out in front two minutes into the second half, but Harbour soon rallied.
The hulking No8 Mathew Luamanu blasted 20 metres from the base of a scrum, creating the melee from which halfback Chris Smylie tapped a penalty and scored. Harris botched the simple conversion.
There were more Harbour substitutions - Luamanu exiting to the hosts' relief - and, predictably, the game lost its shape in the final 20 minutes. Which suited Nanai-Williams fine.
One 30-metre break from the fullback in the 61st minute left tacklers clutching at air. Three minutes later, he capitalised on Simon Lemalu's shrewd switch of play and Mayhew's generosity, the Harbour flanker leaving the door open for the Counties fullback to score.
After their first victory over Harbour in 12 years, Counties captain Jamie Chipman said: "We knew that there were six points in it and the kick was a hard one. [For it to go] off the pole makes it pretty gutting for Harbour."
Harbour's fill-in skipper Smylie said his men had expected the early onslaught.
"We knew they would come out firing and we just had to weather the storm. We thought we could get them in the second half, but we just came up short."
In yesterday's earlier match, Manawatu beat Tasman 20-8, first five-eighths Aaron Cruden starring in a victory that took his side from last place to 12th. Cruden set up Manawatu's first try to lock Fraser Stone and scored the second himself.
Waikato halfback Brendon Leonard was released from hospital late on Saturday night after being knocked unconscious against Northland in Whangarei, but it remains unclear how long he will spend on the sidelines.
