Wellington 52
North Harbour 23
North Harbour's modest season curdled yesterday. In a woeful second half they went from a small lead to a heavy loss against Wellington at Albany.
It was a disgrace, really, coach Craig Dowd conceded.
Wellington, helped by the return of a few All Blacks including the tactically sharp Piri Weepu, blasted their way through and around Harbour in a seven-tries-to-two rout.
"In that second half our lineout crumbled, we did not win anything at the breakdown and had a large number of players wanting to play for themselves putting stupid kicks in ... We went right away from the gameplan, right away from the team structure."
As he searched for individuals who had performed to a reasonable standard, Dowd had to settle on flanker Scott Uren, who was used from the bench.
Enough said. The team meeting today will be tense as Dowd and his assistant Jeff Wilson look for some explanations for the meltdown.
Wellington's victory kept them in the chase for one of the top-seven places, though they have tough matches against Taranaki and Southland to come.
"I think the amount of work that the forwards did first of all - big setpiece and really aggressive at ruck time - helped us," coach Andre Bell said.
"We had firepower out wide, but a lot of the credit has to go to the forwards."
Weepu, who played at first five-eighths, said the advantage of the second-half wind helped, but the pack had been the catalyst for the victory.
He and halfback Alby Mathewson organised the demo work on top of the muscle from the pack.
They ran at gaps, they kicked judiciously and orchestrated the landslide victory.
Harbour led early when Ben Botica intercepted a loose pass in Wellington's 22 and strolled over, and Matt Luamanu blasted past two defenders from 15m for another.
But that was it from Harbour, apart from the flawless goalkicking of Michael Harris. He played at second five-eighths because of injuries but looks better closer to the scrum.
Untidy tactical kicks cost three tries as Wellington ran them back, a messy lineout cost another, while flanker Scott Fuglistaller purred through a massive gap in the Harbour defensive line. They were soft tries.
Wellington made similar errors early but had the ability to regroup and shut Harbour out of the match in the second spell.
Wings Julian Savea and Alapate Leiua looked sharp.
Skipper Jeremy Thrush belted out the demands to his pack, which had power in the scrum from their tattooed pillars, Neemia Tialata and John Schwalger. Hooker Dane Coles turned on some enterprising running. Harbour were simply undistinguished and a poor advertisement for those aiming to be part of the Blues squad next season.
They have an away game against Hawkes Bay and then a finale at home against Taranaki to try to rekindle some respect.
* * *
Tasman played the spoilers' card to perfection to tip over national provincial championship rugby rivals Bay of Plenty 41-39 at Blenheim yesterday.
Tasman were predicted to be easy pickings for Bay of Plenty, who entered the game in playoffs contention. But the home side pulled off an upset through a quality display of goalkicking from fullback Tom Marshall, who landed nine from 11 attempts.
