KEY POINTS:
When coach Wayne Pivac shuffles out the door at North Harbour Stadium next week, another chapter in North Harbour's tale of underachievement will close.
The union born out of Auckland's overwhelming strength in the 80s is a poster-child for the region's rugby malady in 2008.
Auckland have endured a miserable season and Counties Manukau occupy their usual place near the foot of the ladder, but in greater Auckland, Harbour's decline is the most noticeable.
This union supplied four All Blacks, albeit three fringe ones, this year - Anthony Tuitavake, Rudi Wulf, Anthony Boric and Tony Woodcock. Yet before this weekend, they were propped up only by Counties and Manawatu on the Air NZ Cup standings.
Peter Thorburn, one of the union's founding fathers, says these days Harbour cannot lose four players and be competitive. "It's a cyclical thing but, admittedly, it's a fairly big circle at the moment," he says.
It is, according to Thorburn, a "multiplicity" of events but mainly, "the three sides have been decimated by injury and by call-ups for teams".
Notwithstanding the fact Counties are part of the Chiefs franchise despite being an 'Auckland' side, Thorburn believes Auckland's rugby is still reasonably strong, but that strength lacks depth.
"You look at the backbone of the Blues for next season and I think they'll have a good season," he says. "New Zealand teams will struggle but I think the Blues will go well. They'll have virtually a New Zealand forward pack."
The premise, used with all the bluntness of a truncheon, is that the All Blacks are strong only when Auckland rugby is strong.
The All Blacks won the Tri Nations, so with the greater Auckland teams struggling does it disprove that theory, or are Auckland just doing a good job of hiding their strength?
"We're [New Zealand] not strong because Canterbury rugby is strong," Thorburn says. "Look at the current All Blacks who are available to the Crusaders next season. There's Richie McCaw, Brad Thorn, presumably Andy Ellis and Leon MacDonald. That's all. The strength of New Zealand rugby is still very much in the north." (Numerically maybe, but a devil's advocate could argue if New Zealand would have won the Tri Nations without McCaw and Dan Carter.)
The problem with Auckland rugby is not that it doesn't produce good players - Counties, Auckland and North Harbour can claim 10 of the 22 players that suited up in Brisbane a fortnight ago - but that it doesn't produce enough relative to its population.
Greater Auckland is paying the price for years of age-group selectors opting for size over skill. Schools and age-grade teams focused so much on power athletes the region now does not produce first five-eighths with traditional game-management skills which is why the Blues are running remedial clinics.
Another factor is that while Harbour's financial strength is comparable with Hawke's Bay, this year about 40 per cent of their wage bill was for the four All Blacks who barely played.
"A lot of unions are struggling financially and we are not different," Pivac said. "A big part of our wage bill goes into the All Blacks - Anthony Tuitavake, Anthony Boric, Rudi Wulf and Tony Woodcock - and I was really glad that some of them chose to forfeit their two weeks holiday to come back early."
The Blues alliance has been unkind because Auckland have provided between 18 to 28 Super Rugby players each year.
Nick Evans, Craig Newby, Joe Ward, Rico Gear, Hosea Gear and Ron Cribb left Harbour because they couldn't make the Blues.
The good news: Harbour sit pretty in the knowledge they are fourth in the New Zealand Rugby Union pecking order.
What the NZRU doesn't measure is apathy, which is lucky for Harbour because yesterday's miserable crowd proved again that people north of the bridge have lost their appetite for the rugby they are playing.
"The first thing that has to be said is that we could have done without having so many injuries," said Pivac. "This is a talented team and if they can get their top side out on the field next year they will be very competitive."
Said Brett Hollister, Harbour chief executive: "The board and I are now focused on recruiting a coaching team for 2009 that will leverage the rugby talent in the region and reward loyal sponsors, fans and stakeholders."
The problem is there's not many loyal fans and, after another season or two of this, there'll be even less.
