Victory squirts through Harbour's fingers

North Harbour 23 Canterbury 23

There's no escaping this was a match North Harbour should have won - and only the real diehards would have picked that in the leadup to the arrival of the defending champions at Albany.

Instead, Harbour had to settle for a nail-biting draw, a share of the points and a generous helping of self-belief. Frustratingly, Canterbury were there for the taking. This was not a performance of champions. They bumbled through much of the match like Inspector Clouseau, making a stream of errors, yet managed to stay in the match in the second half on the back of Ben Blair's boot.

If Blair had been in Harbour's colours, the game would have been won well before the frantic finish that had the home side pressing desperately and captain Rua Tipoki coming within a couple of pounds of downward pressure of scoring the winning try three minutes from the end.

That close call came when replacement first five-eighth Jon Elrick bounced a penalty from 36m off an upright. A few minutes earlier, Elrick, replacing Tusi Pisi who badly damaged a hamstring in the second half, missed a far easier conversion of the outstanding Anthony Tuitavake's second try.

Pisi missed a couple of first-half shots as well, but coach Allan Pollock wasn't dealing in recriminations.

"You've got to feel for goalkickers. They're heroes or villains," he said. "We're great believers that you make your own luck. We had other opportunities to shut the game down and didn't take them."

What Harbour should take from the match is increased confidence. With Tuitavake and Tipoki showing the way, they rattled Canterbury with strong defensive work, Greg Rawlinson oversaw a smart, effective lineout operation and when they were under the hammer for a period in the final quarter, showed plenty of heart.

The first half was fairly ordinary, save a remarkable 10-2 penalty count in Harbour's favour from referee Gary Wise. Harbour improved as the period wore on after an ordinary start in which lock Kevin O'Neill gave Canterbury a second-minute lead.

They got going with a cleverly worked try, industrious flanker Tom Harding looping round behind speedy wing Vili Waqaseduadua to score in the corner.

That was squandered when No 8 Nick Williams, in a mad moment having made a couple of metres off a scrum near the Harbour line, flipped the ball into Canterbury hands, giving Casey Laulala an easy try.

At the start of the NPC, Tipoki admitted he was staggered the Blues did not snap up Tuitavake. His argument got hefty support as the hard-running centre grabbed two tries in 10 minutes to back a strong defensive display.

Blair, who nailed all five shots at goal, bagged a couple of penalties to set up the finale. Coming on top of whipping Wellington in the previous round, the big benefit from Saturday is that Harbour should fear no one in the next six weeks.