Auckland 39 Counties Manukau 5
KEY POINTS:
Who knows, this year's provincial championship might just be a whole lot more interesting than anyone thought.
Auckland, with nine All Blacks in their run-on XV and two more on the bench, were bruised, rattled and for 60 minutes, badly shaken by a Counties Manukau side containing only two players who were involved in Super 14 this season.
Auckland's perseverance and greater number of professionally conditioned athletes eventually told, allowing them to romp home in the final quarter and produce a scoreline that didn't really tell the story of the game.
This was never easy for Auckland. They had to sweat it. Even in the final quarter, when many in Counties colours were clearly battling fatigue, Auckland had to earn their points.
That probably bodes well for both sides. For the first 60 minutes, Auckland were the architects of many of their own woes. They were disturbingly lateral on attack and profligate with possession.
There was plenty of energy, commitment and desire but little finesse. The backs, as always, were happy to play what they saw and run the ball from wherever but no one took responsibility for straightening the point of attack.
It was all pass and drift, pass and drift until Brad Mika, Taniela Moa and Ben Atiga came off the bench early in the second half.
The former two, in particular, did much to build momentum, by going up the middle and committing defenders. That direct approach led to a scoring blitz as the game neared the final phase, with a secondary surge coming on the hooter.
The final score was the one that left everyone wanting more, with Mika chipping delicately ahead for Doug Howlett to race past the cover and claim a deserved hat-trick and one that will mean plenty to the All Black wing.
A couple of hours after being named in the World Cup squad, he phoned Auckland coach Pat Lam to find out the schedule for the week.
He turned up at a voluntary leadership meeting and then on Friday delivered a presentation to the squad on the history of Auckland rugby.
It's that attitude that appeared to rub off on some of his comrades in the second half. That collective ability to work through adversity and overcome staunch defences has not been a hallmark of recent Auckland sides. So to see such perseverance so early in the season was encouraging for Lam.
"We weren't accurate enough in the first half," he said. "We went from side to side and our execution was poor. But the pleasing thing was that the boys came in at halftime and talked about what we needed to do.
"We realised that we needed to be more direct, to tighten up and things would come."
They realised they had to be because many of the mistakes were forced by the intensity and pressure of the Steelers' defence. Auckland didn't have things all their own way because the Steelers simply didn't let them.
The lessons of last year have obviously been learned in Pukekohe.
Counties were comfortable with the pace. They were able to rebuild defensive lines and scramble and they were superbly competitive at the breakdown.
They even looked pretty useful in possession where skipper Kristian Ormsby provided a reminder of his destructive power and Lelia Masaga balanced a stunning defensive shift in subduing Auckland's David Smith with some flashes of acceleration.
Counties coach Kevin Putt could barely contain his pride in his players, not just for their sterling efforts but for coming off Eden Park dissatisfied they had lost by an unfairly heavy margin.
"It would be a bit bold of me now to be talking about ifs and maybes. But we did defend well and at least we were trying to create tries."
Auckland 39 (D. Howlett 3, K. Haiu, O. Tololima-Auva'a 2 tries; I. Nacewa 2 cons, pen; B. Ward con) Counties Manukau 5 (K. Ormsby try). HT 5-5.
