North Harbour face reality check

North Harbour are in the ideal position of having their semifinal fate in their own hands going into tonight's critical match against Taranaki at Albany.

Their final match is at Invercargill next weekend. Win both, with bonus points, and they cannot be headed for at least a fourth-place finish.

Harbour's heady win over Waikato last Sunday put fresh legs into the campaign, but coach Allan Pollock is guarding against any hint of complacency.

"If Waikato last week was a dream performance, Taranaki is the reality check," he said yesterday.

Taranaki, lying eighth and without captain Paul Tito and fullback James Hilgendorf, are out of the semifinal running, hobbled by tough-to-swallow narrow defeats.

North Harbour would be wise to be on their guard as Taranaki are not by nature inclined to turn their toes up when things go wrong.

"From the first minute to the 80th, they don't look at the scoreboard," Pollock said, "they just keep coming at you. You can't read much into their position on the points table."

The only change for Harbour is the inclusion of All Black prop Tony Woodcock for durable Tony Coughlan. Pollock acknowledged it was hard on Coughlan, who has been a cornerstone in a vastly improved Harbour pack this season.

But the bottom line is that Woodcock, returning from his All Black-instructed layoff, is in Pollock's words "the world's best loosehead prop". Enough said.

Harbour are entitled to have a measure of confidence. They have had a strong season, setting aside the first-up loss to Auckland and an odd second half at Otago.

They have an aggressive forward unit, and a backline full of pace and strong defensive qualities and a gifted young conductor in Luke McAlister. The trick will be to avoid looking further ahead than tonight.

Pollock admitted over-confidence may have been a factor in an unsatisfactory sixth placing last year.

Captain Rua Tipoki has been instrumental in keeping the younger minds on the task immediately in front of them this season.

As Pollock put it, Harbour have no God-given right to win tonight. It will take a strong, cohesive performance against a team who have a gnarly pack and good attacking backs such as Lifeimi Mafi and Sailosi Tagicakibau.

But there is a feeling that with the finishing line within touching distance, there won't be a slip-up tonight.

It is a big weekend in the NPC, not only because of last night's match at Eden Park but also because this afternoon's clash at Carisbrook between Otago and Canterbury is critical to the final top-four makeup.

Canterbury seem safe on 29, but Otago are third, on 23, one ahead of North Harbour. Permutations seem possible, but Harbour have it in their own hands to keep it simple.

* Albany, 7.35 tonight

North Harbour
George Pisi
V. Waqaseduadua
Anthony Tuitavake
Rua Tipoki (c)
Zar Lawrence
Luke McAlister
J. Poluleuligaga
Nick Williams
Tom Harding
Anthony Boric
Greg Rawlinson
Marty Veale
Mike Noble
Joe Ward
Tony Woodcock

Reserves: Roger Dustow, Adrian Donald, Brent Wilson, Regan Tamihere, Ben Meyer, Joel Nasmith, Andrew Mailei.

Taranaki
Scott Ireland
Brendon Watt
Mathew Harvey
Lifeimi Mafi
S. Tagicakibau
Sam Young
Craig Fevre
Chris Masoe
Joe Lawn
John Willis
Jason Eaton
Scott Breman
Gordon Slater (c)
Andrew Hore
Tony Penn


Reserves: Laurence Corlett, Hamish Mitchell, Brendon McGlashan, Tomasi Soqeta or Sisa Koyamaibole, Andrew Suniula, Todd Feather, James King.