KEY POINTS:
Having scraped past North Harbour on Saturday afternoon, Auckland will be eyeing a fifth-placed finish and a trip to either Bay of Plenty or Hawkes Bay for the national championship quarter-finals.
Barring an upset victory by Southland over Canterbury in the final round, if Auckland beat Northland at
Eden Park on Sunday they will face the loser of Friday night's Steamers versus Magpies match.
With All Blacks Keven Mealamu, John Afoa and Jerome Kaino set to return and bolster their pack, Auckland will fancy their chances of ruffling a few feathers in the playoffs.
But, having watched his side almost blow a 29-3 lead against Harbour, coach Shane Howarth isn't taking anything for granted.
"We have [given] ourselves a good chance of making the eight but Northland aren't going to make it easy for us [on Sunday]," Howarth said. Northland, who thrashed Manawatu 45-24 yesterday, head into the match having won two in a row and knowing a victory would almost certainly secure their first playoff appearance in the top division.
But for Harbour Saturday's defeat meant elimination from playoff contention with a week still remaining in the competition.
Coach Wayne Pivac's tenure will end with the province having failed to reach the quarter-finals in each of his two years in charge.
Pivac said he would consider his options but after nine years' coaching in the national championship he felt he needed a fresh challenge and he would not pursue the Auckland job that will be vacated by Howarth at the end of the season. Harbour reeled off 19 straight second-half points but their comeback came up short and Pivac was left to rue a lacklustre opening 55 minutes that saw Auckland score four tries and butcher several more in a game that seemed to be heading for a one-sided thrashing.
But when captain Ben Atiga succumbed to the flu bug that had troubled him all week and halfback Taniela Moa also departed with a leg injury, Auckland lost their way and Harbour's confidence grew.
Wing Josh York jinked his way over and centre Nafi Tuitavake then crossed for a try that left Howarth fuming at the officials.
Harbour fullback Jack McPhee's chip appeared to go out on the full but play was allowed to continue and Tuitavake followed up to score.
Howarth described the try as a "joke".
"Everyone except one person thought that was out on the full. You've got to understand we are fighting for our lives and that decision could have really, really hurt us."
When McPhee grounded a loose ball to score Harbour's third with five minutes remaining it seemed Harbour might deliver a knockout blow but their slow start had left them with too much to do.
"It was frustrating to lose a game we could have won but they probably got too far ahead of us," Pivac said.
Impressive flanker Dean Budd scored Auckland's first try and made the break that led to their second, finished by wing David Smith after a judicious Moa skip-pass. Moa then limped over six minutes into the second half - his last act in the game - and lock Stan Haukunima sealed the bonus point with 25 minutes still remaining. But that was as good as it got for Auckland, whose near-capitulation provided a stark reminder of their fallibility.
Taranaki appear to be the big loser from the weekend's matches, with the two points they dropped in Friday night's fortunate draw with lowly Counties Manukau likely to cost them a playoff spot. If Taranaki fail to beat Waikato on Thursday night in Hamilton, they will be in danger of being overtaken for the eighth and final playoff place by Tasman, who play bottom-placed Manawatu on Saturday.
