KEY POINTS:
If rugby games were 20 minutes long, North Harbour would probably be on top of the national championship table now.
They blitzed Northland and Taranaki in the opening quarters of their first two matches and totally dominated Counties Manukau during the early going last Friday night.
Their problem
has been that the final 60 minutes of each of those matches haven't been anywhere near as polished.
The result has been two draws and a victory over Taranaki in which they were forced to cling on desperately in a frantic final 20 minutes.
Harbour coach Wayne Pivac believes he knows what the problem has been.
"I think it's our decision-making. As a team we've talked about our decision-making out wide where we've got some experienced players. Those guys have agreed that we've taken some poor options out wide.
"We have had a very hard look at all three of our performances and, in the two draws in particular, we have created a lot of scoring opportunities but we just haven't finished them off.
"Really good teams like the Auckland teams of the past and Waikato last year would have taken those opportunities and been able to cruise in the second half. We are having to struggle. I guess that is the sign of a young team.
"But the forwards have been steadily building every week and the platform is getting better and better to work from. So there are a lot of positives."
Pivac rejected that lack of conditioning could be hurting his side.
"If it was conditioning and we were starting to wilt, then we wouldn't be able to hold the opposition out with the weight of possession they've had. In fact we have defended very, very well. I think we've finished games strongly but without the ball."
Harbour's preparation won't have been helped by the recall of loan hooker Tom McCartney to Auckland after Derren Witcombe's retirement.
McCartney had started every game this season and was beginning to form an effective combination with props James Afoa and Ben Afeaki.
Pivac said bringing him in from Auckland had been worthwhile despite the disruption of losing him mid-season.
Last year's first-choice hooker James Hinchco has been restored to the starting line-up and Roger Dustow has rejoined the squad to provide cover from the bench.
Dustow was initially left out of Pivac's squad owing to concerns about his mobility, but Pivac said the hooker had had several months to work on that aspect of his game.
Hawkes Bay's undefeated start to the season ended at Tasman last week but Pivac was wary of a forward-oriented side that upset Wellington in atrocious conditions.
"We are hearing that there is bad weather coming this Friday but we are hoping that it is going to be reasonable and we can get a bit of ball out wide and take advantage of the opportunities we are creating.