Northland 27 North Harbour 27
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A 77th minute try from James Afoa enabled Ranfurly Shield holders North Harbour to avoid the first major upset in the opening round of the Air New Zealand Cup rugby competition today.
The try by the front rower against an upright salvaged a 27-27 draw with Northland, ranked lowly but now with reasonably experienced players at provincial level.
The prop had the presence of mind to force the ball on the goalpost pad on the right hand upright as the clock wound down while debutant Jack McPhee added the handy conversion to deny Northland an unscripted victory at Homeworld Stadium.
After leading 17-3 at the 30-minute mark, Harbour fell away markedly in what amounted to a shoddy dress rehearsal for their first major shield defence against Taranaki next Saturday.
The rugged challengers would have taken note of Harbour's vulnerability in the tight exchanges - although ironically it was a rare pick and drive from the visitors that enabled Afoa to level the contest.
Harbour appeared to have the contest under control after trademark enterprising back play saw Vili Waqaseduadua and Nick Williams cross, but once Northland twigged to the advantage of crunching up the guts, particularly close to the goal line, the complexion of the game changed.
When halfback Corey Tamou was denied by a North Harbour arm two minutes before halftime after a sustained pick-and-go assault, Northland had embraced the template for exposing the visitors - a tactic that paid off 10 minutes after the break when Tamou helped propel openside flanker Joel McKenty over the line.
Canny veteran David Holwell added the conversion as Northland posted 17 unanswered points to forge an unlikely 20-17 lead.
Holwell missed his only attempt - a handy penalty in the 51st minute - to prevent Northland profiting more from their best period of the match but after McPhee drew Harbour level in the 67th minute with a penalty goal, the experienced pivot produced a moment of magic.
From an attacking penalty earned a minute later, Northland again crabbed sideways to the line before the ball was fed to 32-year-old whose right foot step took him between Tusi Pisi and Rudi Wulf and under the bar for a converted try.
That Northland were willing to risk a short range lineout instead of a standard three-pointer underlined their improvement in that set piece after a difficult start against the 2-metre-plus triple threats of Greg Rawlinson, Ryan Wilson and Anthony Boric.
Harbour contested every lineout to good effect in the first half but Northland gradually gained parity there while the favourites continued to be consistently undone by a crippling error rate at the ruck.
Northland won the turnover count at a rate of two-to-one (28-14) and exerted plenty of pressure on Harbour at scrum time where loosehead prop Chris White - a late replacement for Ben Afeaki - struggled to maintain a platform.
Typically, it was Harbour's fleet-footed backs that masked the deficiencies up front as Waqaseduadua carved through the defensive line to race 40-metres under the posts in the 23rd minute for their opening try.
Captain and No 8 Williams completed another break out involving Afoa, Anthony Tuitavake and McPhee, who made the final transfer.
Northland wing Fetu'u Vainikolo started the fight back five minutes from the break when Jake Paringatai committed two defenders before a slick offload gave the debutant a saloon passage to the line.
The hosts held the ascendency from then on and when Holwell gingerly left the paddock with four minutes remaining after contributing 17 points the job appeared to be done.
Northland captain Justin Collins thought his side had done enough.
"After half an hour I thought we were in for a really tough day but we fought back pretty well. I'm pretty disappointed really, we should have had that win," he said.
Williams was relieved to escape with two points.
"Costly mistakes cost us in the end, we weren't accurate enough," he said.
Northland 27 (Fetu'u Vainikolo, Joel McKenty, David Holwell tries; David Holwell 2 pen, 3 con), North Harbour 27 (Vili Waqaseduadua, Nick Williams, James Afoa tries; Jack McPhee 2 pen, 3 con). Halftime: 13-17
- NZPA
