Rugby: Botch-ups cost Harbour dearly

By Chris Rattue

Two botched North Harbour moves helped to turn the Battle of the Bridge NPC semifinal Auckland's way.

Auckland's 38-30 triumph at Eden Park on Saturday night has put them into this Saturday's final against Wellington, in the capital side's first grand final appearance since the new format was introduced in 1992.

One key moment provided the telling difference in an epic clash on Saturday night.

Trailing 20-30 with half-an-hour remaining, Harbour captain Frano Botica turned down a short-range shot at goal in favour of kicking for a lineout.

Harbour's coaching staff believed the penalty shot should have been taken, and Botica, who succeeded with 25 out of his last 26 goal attempts in the season, would surely have reduced the deficit to seven points.

But Botica was confident that a lineout move that had already worked against Counties Manukau and Southland, with halfback Mark Robinson running the short side, would work.

However, the lineout ended up too far from the Auckland goal-line for the move to be effective and the ball was spun left along the Harbour backline.

The move, however, died, with awful consequences for the visitors. Fullback Glenn Davis was supposed to stream into the line and run off Rua Tipoki, but as the centre looked up, Davis was not in position.

Instead of flicking a short pass, Tipoki changed midstream and tried a long ball to wing Karl Te Nana, who had a slight overlap.

The sudden change in tactic saw Tipoki's pass fall at Te Nana's feet, the ball spilled forward, and Auckland fullback Adrian Cashmore launched a breakout, chipping ahead, and Doug Howlett - maybe the fastest man in the New Zealand game - outpaced the defence to get the touchdown.

At 35-20, Auckland were not safe. But in a game where the two sides were going tit-for-tat in scoring, it was a crucial jump ahead.

Auckland had started the game with an apparent late change to the line-up, with Ofisa Tonu'u replacing Steve Devine, who has struggled with an ankle problem, at halfback.

But Auckland had been fairly certain since Wednesday that Devine would not be fit, and decided to play some selection ducks-and-drakes.

"North Harbour were talking about moves to put pressure on Devine and we thought we'd play up to it," said Auckland coach Wayne Pivac.

Centre Eroni Clarke, such a key force in Auckland sides, limped out of the game after two minutes with a recurrence of his hamstring problem, with Iliesa Tanivula taking his place.

But Auckland started the game superbly with a Caleb Ralph try after a perfect opening in which they controlled the ball for the first two minutes. And the restarts proved a crucial winning area for them.

After leading 20-13 at halftime, they struck immediately after the interval when the ball fell into Mark Carter's hands and the flanker raced 22m to the line.

"It was a crucial moment in the game and although I haven't seen the replay, we felt Carter was offside when he grabbed the ball out of Mark Robinson's hands," said Harbour assistant-coach Allan Pollock.

"I saw Mark after the game and he was expecting the whistle for offside. I told him he could have done the decent thing and owned up."

Auckland were never headed in the game, although Harbour levelled at 7-all after 17 minutes through a dazzling try to Tipoki.

The centre, with maybe the sharpest sidestep in New Zealand, fielded an Orene Ai'i clearing kick and beat four players on a run through traffic in a display of a talent which could well go much higher in the game.

The Tipoki-Davis combination produced a try in the 63rd minute, when the fullback ran inside the centre to cut Auckland's advantage to 35-27.

Ai'i then hit the post with a 40m drop goal attempt, Botica landed a penalty making it 35-30, before Ai'i landed a 28m field goal with nine minutes remaining, the final scoring act.

That helped to end North Harbour's season and almost certainly Botica's career in New Zealand, although Harbour may still involve him with the squad when he returns from a stint with Biarritz in France.

Head coach Wayne Shelford and Pollock want to remain at the helm, with the only other contenders apparently under consideration being B-squad coaches Russell Jones and Paul Feeney.

The North Harbour tight five held up well in the second half of the season but they have a lack of depth and experience there and questions will continue to be asked, especially with other top provinces having their All Blacks back next season.

However, the development of their loose forwards and the talent they have in the backs gives them plenty of hope for the future.

Shelford said after the game: "We reached every goal we set before the season and just getting to the semis was a great moment.

"We've now got to be in the semifinals every year.

"There were three possible tries where we took the wrong options. There was no confidence in making the cut.

"A few calls didn't go our way, a few moves didn't come off."