Auckland have survived the chaos and live to fight another day.
In a frenetic affair against North Harbour in Albany, the visitors overcame two yellow cards and a number of deficits to claim a 21-18 win in the first National Provincial Championship quarter-final.
"I'm hugely proud,"Auckland coach Alama Ieremia said after the game. "Proud of the coaches, proud of the leaders, proud of the team, and proud of the effort in the second half to show composure and fight our way back."
While a big win for Auckland's season, there will be plenty of concern in their camp around the wellbeing of prop Angus Ta'avao, who was stretchered off the pitch on the medicab late in the first half after lying prone for several minutes.
Ta'avao was a victim of friendly fire in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Bryn Gatland from scoring a try in the 37th minute, colliding with wing Tomas Aoake as the latter came flying over in cover defence. Sliding into his attempt to prevent the try with his knee, Aoake made contact with Gatland's head before a head-to-head collision sent Ta'avao to the turf.
Gatland was allowed to remain on the pitch, though was replaced at halftime, while Aoake was shown a yellow card for dangerous play.
Angus Ta'avao (L) and Tomas Aoake of Auckland collide trying to stop a Bryn Gatland try. Photo / Getty
The incident brought a halt to what had been a frantic first half in which neither team could settle. The game saw seven turnovers inside the opening 11 minutes as a combination of solid defence and poor execution saw the play go from one end of the pitch to the next.
In these moments of chaos, Gatland was doing well to settle things down where he could, with some smart kicks to the sideline giving the teams a chance to reset.
It was Auckland who opened the scoring, with Harry Plummer slotting a penalty after a strong scrum, however North Harbour answered back through Gatland – whose successful penalty managed to hit the right upright and the crossbar before falling on the right side of the bar.
Auckland began to find some rhythm in their attack midway through the half, and some big defensive efforts were required from North Harbour – none more important than Shaun Stevenson bringing down a fast-charging AJ Lam with the tryline in sight.
Auckland edged ahead again from Plummer's boot, before Gatland's try saw North Harbour take the ascendancy.
When play resumed after the long injury delay, they went in again as Tevita Li found himself in space and was too strong for the desperation defence of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Li and Tuivasa-Sheck again took centre stage early in the second half, but this time by way of the video referee after Tuivasa-Sheck looked to have taken Li out in the air as they contested a bomb in the middle of the pitch. He was yellow carded, and Li was forced from the field with a head knock.
Without Gatland and Li for the second half, North Harbour tried to adjust, and Auckland took advantage. Despite being a man down, Auckland looked the most likely to strike next, and that was the case when Akira Ioane crashed over from close range.
"Those All Blacks players who came back, at times we were thinking 'should we pull them off?' because they haven't had a lot of rugby," Ieremia said. "But I just thought they showed a lot of character, and the rest followed."
Ioane's try brought Auckland right back into the contest as the sides were separated by just two points with 29 minutes to play. A booming 58-metre penalty from Stevenson with 10 minutes to go pushed that gap back out to five points, but a 74th minute pushover try through Lotu Inisi leveled the scores after Plummer's conversion from a friendly angle hit the right upright and bounced back towards him.
While he missed that shot, Plummer would not send it wayward a second time and, awarded a penalty in a similar position on the siren, the Auckland captain kicked his side to victory and booked a semifinal showdown with either Wellington or Hawke's Bay.
