Rugby: Hard yards bring reward

Auckland wing Atelia Pakalani shakes off Hawke's Bay's Sona Taumalolo (R) during their 47-13 loss in Napier. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

North Harbour have discovered a hard truth about rugby; that doing the ugly stuff until they drop can pay a healthy dividend.

Their 22-19 win over defending champions Canterbury also gave those tipsters picking a Canterbury win - and there were no others - a kick in the pants.

Harbour's reputation goes like this: plenty of attacking ability, but defence with the solidity of jelly.

Coaches Craig Dowd and Jeff Wilson have worked overtime to turn that perception round and they'll have been chuffed that despite being under the hammer much of the time in their opening Air New Zealand Cup match at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday night, their players followed the script and didn't wilt.

Harbour also found they've got a cool-headed kicker in first five-eighth Mike Harris.

Two minutes from the end, at 19-all, Canterbury captain George Whitelock didn't release the ball in a tackle and was penalised 40m out.

Up stepped Harris, who'd kicked all previous five attempts, to plant the ball squarely between the sticks. It was one of those kicks which he knew he'd nailed a moment after it left his boot.

"I had one glance and I knew it was sailing through. Yeah, pretty happy," he said with a large dose of understatement.

But Harris, having his first start at No 10 for Harbour, relished the chance to do the business.

"Actually I was excited to have the opportunity. I've been fairly happy with the way I've been striking it through the club season," he said.

He followed his processes precisely, shutting out the enormity of the moment.

"It's one thing you hear from a lot of kickers and exactly what I believe as well: every kick is just as important as the last one. Without all the others you wouldn't get to that stage anyway."

And Harris knows Harbour have set a standard for their defensive work for the rest of the championship and is confident his teammates will have recognised the value of what Dowd has instilled in them.

"Everyone will buy in now because we've seen what results can come of such accurate and hard defence."

Opposite Harris, Dan Carter used plenty of boot in his return to serious rugby after his lengthy Achilles injury layoff.

He played three-quarters of the match and was impressive. One slashing break would have led to a try, only to be ruined by a subsequent forward pass.

Tri-Nations? After another couple of games for Canterbury, don't be surprised if he's called in.

As for Auckland? They were done over like a Sunday roast by boisterous Hawkes Bay 47-13 in Napier, kept scoreless in the second half.

Last season they were tipped up by Counties Manukau in the opening round, and on Saturday were dreadful for large chunks of the match, as much as the Bay were impressive.

Hawkes Bay had terriers at the breakdown and used their pace well. Sure, Auckland are shorn of experience and quality, but that alone cannot explain the scale of the loss, their first to that union for 35 years. There were hard words from new coach Mark Abercrombie, and rightly so.

Waikato didn't do themselves any favours in Invercargill, a wobbly lineout and inability to retain possession and carve out clear openings costing them dearly against a diligent, industrious Southland side, losing 16-6.

That said, Southland will trouble most teams this season. Their lineout is good, the scrum reasonable, they have some useful backs and a classy young footballer to guide them around.

Robbie Robinson, a member of the world title-winning New Zealand under-20 team, has the hallmarks of a class act. He runs sharply and kicks well.

Counties-Manukau should have got off to a winning start too, but Manawatu took the honours 36-31 with a rousing second half, which they won 22-7.

Manawatu fullback Casey Stone saved a certain try after an intercept in the second half, which could have put Counties beyond reach, and his teammates responded with two tries in quick order.