North Harbour vs Northland

[Stargazer]

Great try from Kitto.

[Dice]

North Harbour should be ahead by a lot more, but the handling and skills have been below par.

[Machpants]

@machpants said in North Harbour vs Northland:

Ugh shit call, yellow card, gotta be game over

Haha how wrong I am, like normal

[Dice]

Kitto scores for Northland. 18 - 17 to North Harbour.

For all the dominance Harbour has had in territory and possession, it's not showing on the scoreboard. Northland have done nothing on attack outside of two breaks, but those two breaks have led to two tries.

[African Monkey]

Jono Kitto looking more lively in 5 minutes than Bryn Hall and Sam Nock combined.

[Dice]

Duffie bringing his Blues' form back to Harbour.

[JK]

Great kick!

Harbour 21-20

[Machpants]

Ref has decided to ignore high shots by harbour. As annoying as that stupid coach killer penalty given away by 12

[mimic]

lol.. Tamati Tua with the cramp after dropping the ball cold.. classic

[JK]

Got the win but very low grade game

Actually like a lot of harbours wins last year too. Got the result but nothing pretty. Wetter out there than it looks tho so some of the ball handling can be forgiven...some

[Stargazer]

Deserved win for Harbour, but boy, Northland made them work to keep that lead.

[African Monkey]

Good win for Harbour as ugly as it was. It's always hard in the early rounds of the M10 cup with guys coming in from Super Rugby seasons but to grind out a win tonight is crucial for Harbour.

[antipodean]

I thought my tipping was going to be off to a craptacular start with about 10mins to go.

[Kirwan]

That was a good finish, enjoyed that game.

[Tim]

How was Kitto?

[African Monkey]

@tim Very good I thought, definitely outplayed Hall and Nock. Bought a lot of energy when he came on, ran well, did some very good cover work and his service was very good especially when his pack was going backwards.

[Gunner]

@tim decent. Added a bit of energy I thought when he came on.

Fuck that first 40 was dire from my boys.

Harbour should have had the game wrapped up by halftime with the amount of territory and possession they had but they were as bad as us at hanging onto the ball.

The penalty that Hohaia gave away to give Harbour the lead with 5 or so to play was just plain dumb and not needed.

A bit more composure we could have got over the line there.

Ranger, created havoc all night, great to see him back.

[Tim]

Midfield was my biggest concern for Harbour, and they really lacked a good, hard straight runner there.

Does Duffie compete for the ball in the air, or even jump, anymore? Seems to have lost all his confidence.

Harbour backs very tentitive in general. Forwards looking good so far, as does defense. Am close to halftime.

[Tim]

Harbour really lack a couple of ball carriers in the forwards too. Cowley-Tuioti hasn't gotten that part of his game going this year, after being pretty impressive last season. Eves and Moala-Liava'a could add that ability.

[Daffy Jaffy]

@tim In due course Loketi Manu may bring that power you are looking for in midfield.. He is a powerful 100kg plus 'Nonuesque' style of player. Still only 20ish and very green though. Did he get on at all in this game? I am a little surprised Auckland lent him out when they only picked 3 other midfielders for their squad.