Harbour vs Auckland

Tim

Tim

LOL at Zinny's speech after the game: "From the team, we absolutely love Onewa Domain. One of the best grounds to play a final on."

taniwharugby

@Tim haha the sign in the background: Tegal North Harbour, the Chicken of Champions!

Gold!

KiwiMurph

Havili at 7 and Gibson at 8 - I would have thought the other way around.

Nanai can't be too far away I think they said he was 2 weeks away when the season kicked off.

I'm not fan of Pryor Collier but he can't be any worse than Trainor who has been garbage this season.

Harbour should be eyeing up a big win here.

mimic

Anyone know when Papali'i will be available to play? Was looking forward to see how he'd go alongside Gibson and Ioane..

Duluth

1 Chris Eves, 2 James Parsons, 3 Michael Tamoeaieta, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 5 Jarrad Hoeata, 6 Glenn Preston, 7 Murphy Taramai, 8 Josh Tyrell, 9 Bryn Hall, 10 Bryn Gatland, 11 Tevita Li, 12 Harrison Groundwater, 13 Matt Vaega, 14 Matt Duffie, 15 Shaun Stevenson

Reserves: 16 Adrian Smith, 17 Karl Tuinukuage, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 Hapakuki Moala-Liavaa, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Daniel Hilton-Jones, 23 Ben Volavola

Dice

@KiwiMurph Havili doesn't have that much experience at 8, but he certainly ticks the boxes for the position, so he could play some there in the future. He played mostly at 6 in school and openside in club rugby.

If Akira becomes a regular AB, then one of Papali'i or Havili needs to be playing 8.

KiwiMurph

Auckland's senior team might be rubbish but at least their youngsters show some promise. Auckland U19s 57 Harbour U19s 12.

mimic

NH his the lead already

Stargazer

Geez, walk to the kitchen to get a drink; come back only a few minutes later and Harbour has already scored a try?!

Dice

Wasn't a good start by Fekitoa. Kicks out on the full, then next play, he comes out of the line and gives a massive overlap for Harbour, who make a break from it and score an easy early try.

Dice

Is Frank Bunce our defensive coach again?

Dice

Moala and Fekitoa are a mess on defense at the moment.

Dice

Our first time playing inside the Harbour half for the first time in 19 minutes.

8 - 0 to Harbour BTW.

Stargazer

Sumo about Auckland: "they look like they have just met on the bus today". Spot on.

Dice

We look uncoached. Can Feeney come back?

Stargazer

Geez, now in this game also sideline commentary/interviews during the game. They watched too many Aussie games during SR season. Not liking it.

African Monkey

@Stargazer We've looked like that since Nick White took over the side. North Harbour should be up by 30.

Tim

Harbour have deftly avoided Auckland's defensively strong forward pack. Playing just a bit wider with the forwards, good support for offloads, and fast flat passes through the backline.

Tim

Interesting to hear that Taramai was not offered a contract with the Blues.

The Silver Fern

Harbour vs Auckland