Rugby: Harbour really hit straps

By CHRIS RATTUE

NORTH HARBOUR 58 COUNTIES MANUKAU 15

The diagnosis on North Harbour's and Counties Manukau's NPC prospects after their opening round clash is straightforward.

Wayne Shelford's North Harbour will push hard for a second successive semifinal place, even though their path will be tougher this time because the big sides will have their All Blacks involved for most of the season.

But Counties Manukau are way off the pace. Lacking experience, pace and firepower, they were ripped to shreds on Saturday when they were outscored 10 tries to two at North Harbour Stadium.

Coaches Andrew Talaimanu and Henry Maxwell have an enormous amount of work to do to instil organisation and confidence into a side who have a glaring lack of experience, particularly in the tight five and parts of the backline.

North Harbour produced an array of wizardry, with loose forward Matua Parkinson and the backline tricksters whose pace and sleight of hand proved too much for Counties Manukau.

The Steelers always looked vulnerable when the ball went wide. Their defenders could not hold a pattern and were often left grasping at the spaces as North Harbour streamed through. But for a few wrong options and just a four-out-of-10 goalkicking effort from Marc Ellis, the score would have been much higher.

Goalkicking aside, Ellis had a big hand in the match, leaving Shelford reasonably happy with his new first five-eighths.

"He is getting better and better and he's not scared to take the ball to the line, although sometimes he takes it too often when he should be off-loading," said Shelford.

North Harbour opened their tryscoring spree in the 16th minute with a set move involving Ellis, which Aisea Tuilevu finished off.

New tighthead prop Slade McFarland then stepped up into the scoring limelight. He appeared on the right wing and fed an inside ball to send Parkinson over the line, then finished another move by wrestling his way the final five metres over the line.

From there on, it was a case of Counties Manukau eating North Harbour's dust. With Ellis, Walter Little and Rua Tipoki testing the defence, the tries flowed.

"I've been reading all week that we're going to finish last ... but I do believe our team is better than we showed today," said Talaimanu. "It is the difference between club football and the next level and some of our players didn't seem aware of what was going to happen.

"North Harbour were semifinalists last year and if they play like that, they will be again. There's no use panicking ... we'll just have to regroup."

Of course, whether Counties Manukau have the personnel to regroup well enough is the question, and their most experienced tight forward, John Akurangi, may have a serious arm injury. They were missing the match-turning potential of Joeli Vidiri, but need significantly more than that.

North Harbour were quite brilliant at times, as their sides often are, but this was not a game that tested their mettle.

Shelford said: "I think the team have grown up in the last year. But Counties' defence wasn't working that well. They were all coming in and we were catching them on the outside.

"They didn't seem like the Counties of old."

North Harbour will face far sterner tests, starting with Friday night's second round match against Canterbury in Christchurch.