Rugby: Winning start to celebrations

North Harbour's Brendon Watt makes a break against Japan at North Harbour Stadium last night. Photo / Richard Robinson

North Harbour claimed the international scalp of Japan last night to begin their 25th jubilee season in strong style.

As celebrations wound deep into the evening those with heavy Harbour bias wondered whether their success meant they were now 13th in the world ratings.

Both teams collected lessons, Harbour for their national championship programme while Japan have been brought up to speed quickly about their next task in the Pacific Nations Cup. Victory would have been an even more satisfying for coaches Craig Dowd and Jeff Wilson as Harbour were without a clutch of Super 14 players and lost five-eighths Michael Harris to injury inside 30 minutes.

Harbour looked organised after such a brief lead-in to the match while their scrum and breakdown work with Scott Uren was dominant.

However both sides struggled as their eagerness and a heavy dew at North Harbour Stadium caused regular handling errors.

Harbour held a 6-0 lead after the first quarter before Japan finally got into some pattern.

A forward pass rubbed out a try to Alisi Tupauailei and a desperate dive from lock Shane Neville saved another from a taunting grubber kick.

But as soon as that momentum from Japan built, it evaporated. Harbour swung back on to attack and from a lineout catch and drive No 8 Matt Luamanu scored the first try.

Some fine goalkicking from replacement Ben Botica pushed Harbour's halftime lead to 16-0 and they extended that soon after the break when Chris Smylie scored a neat solo try.

If Japan sensed a recovery it took a hit when lock Toshizumi Kitagawa was sinbinned. They hung in and survived without giving away any more points before Tupauailei scored. He dragged in an awkward pass for a deserved touchdown as Japan continued their late fightback.

FULL TIME SCORE
* North Harbour 23 ( M Luamanu, C Smylie, tries; B Botica 2 con, pen, M Harris, 2 pen)
* Japan 19 (S Horie, A Tupauailei, K Wada, tries; S Webb con, J Arlidge con.)

Half Time: 16-0