Waikato only obstacle to North Harbour double

North Harbour's celebrations after Sunday's historic Ranfurly Shield win over Canterbury have been of necessity short and sweet.

"We said to our players to make the most of Sunday night," said coach Allan Pollock, who was in a jubilant and reflective mood yesterday.

"We told them Monday was to be a day of rest and rehydration and then it was back to work on Tuesday with a morning training run and with everyone's feet back on the ground."

Pollock emphasised that, even though the shield was now about to be locked away for the summer, Harbour had plenty of unfinished business for the season and a top two finish in the Air New Zealand Cup, which continues with a match against Waikato in Hamilton on Sunday, was still a priority.

That would put Harbour on course to complete a notable double, starting with a home quarter-final against one of the repechage sides and then the final the following weekend, possibly also at home.

But first Waikato had to be overcome and Pollock had no doubts this would be a match played with as much intensity as a shield challenge.

"We will be going in against a Waikato side playing some fantastic football at the moment," he said.

"But, if we are going to be in the top two, we have to win it. It's as simple as that. We know that Waikato, after the way they dealt with Wellington, have plenty of forward muscle and backs who have guile and pace."

Pollock said the Harbour management was also mindful of a curious statistical fact which indicated teams that won the shield were vulnerable in their next big match.

It happened in 1981 when Wellington, soon after winning the shield from Waikato, lost to Counties and even John Hart's great Auckland side of 1985 lost to Otago at Carisbrook the week after their epic challenge against Canterbury.

Pollock said he was still trying to get Sunday's win in perspective. "It's unbelievable to think we beat Canterbury with 30 per cent possession."

His main hopes now were that winning the shield, and perhaps with the chance of a reasonably long tenure next year, Harbour as a union might forge an identity of its own and that the team's exciting brand of rugby would be rewarded with good crowd numbers at the Albany Stadium.

"As far as Harbour as a region is concerned this win has been bigger than rugby. We have a chance to show now we're a bit more than being a part only of the Greater Auckland area.

"When we are in the South Island, people seem to think we're Auckland in different colours. That's not the case. Now we've got a national icon like the Ranfurly Shield to show we are a little different."

Pollock said it was important to remember Harbour was more than just a few Auckland suburbs across the Harbour Bridge.

"It stretches all the way up to Warkworth and across Massey in the west to Helensville and the Kaipara."

One of Harbour's missions now was to secure players for the next few seasons. Already contracts have been signed by Anthony Tuitavake and apparently Luke McAlister.

One possible loss overseas could be prop Mike Noble, though Pollock insisted that had not been a factor in his being benched on Sunday with Adrian Donald, not noted for his scrummaging, starting at tighthead ahead of him.

Pollock said Harbour hoped next year to do any rebuilding from within, but would add players from outside where appropriate.

In the past couple of seasons, Harbour have lost players to other unions such as Nick Evans and Rico Gear because of a perception they were not treated fairly in Blues Super 12/14 selections.

Pollock, however, avoided that argument, saying he hoped his players had done enough to be picked on merit.