David Leggat: Harbour can do themselves a big favour

England and their Celtic cousins have it. There's a bit of it when Canterbury and Otago tread each other's turf, in a Mainland kind of way.

Ditto New South Wales and Queensland at league, but then again they're the only places it's played in that vast land so maybe that doesn't count.

Soccer has any number of examples of longstanding, often bitter, distinctly un-neighbourly rivalry.

But what Auckland and North Harbour have in New Zealand's rugby landscape is special.

Their battles are like kids living next door, who can biff things at each other over the fence.

Bragging rights are paramount when big city rivals clash. Auckland got first dibs when they cleaned up Harbour in the NPC's opening round at Albany in August.

They can also point to seven titles to none since the NPC went to the playoff system in 1992.

Harbour have made their fifth semifinal, and victory tonight at Eden Park will put them in just their second final.

At times to outside eyes, Auckland may have seemed like a benevolent uncle towards the 21-year-old upstart from over the bridge.

To Harbour eyes, maybe not always that benevolent.

They had that ugly stoush on their only meeting in the NPC final, at Onewa Domain in 1994 when an excess of pre-match verbals had its perhaps inevitable conclusion.

Both teams have spoken about their mates on the other side, and we all know what happens when mates square off.

With the best of intentions, they want to finish on top.

There's a school of thought that North Harbour won't really come of age until they win a first division title, or at least a Ranfurly Shield challenge - that they will always be on the outside looking into the candy store until they have some significant silverware to show off.

Consider that Waikato, Otago and Wellington - respectively 96, 124 and 126 years old - have each won the first division title only once since 1992.

They have had other successes down the decades, but could never be accused of being a dominant player since the format changed, compared with Auckland and Canterbury, who have 10 titles between them.

Sure, it's a numbers game. Auckland and Canterbury have the population and, in Canterbury's case, have honed the ideal culture to succeed repeatedly. They simply change the face of a passenger every so often, but the bus keeps on rolling (last night notwithstanding).

If Harbour have a mental stumbling block when they play Auckland on the really important occasions - played four, lost four - they can do themselves a big favour tonight. Win a no-second-chances game for the first time in big brother's back yard.

Then there's the blue cloud hovering over tonight's match. There are contracts to be secured for the Super 14 next year and this is a sore point for Harbour folk.

It's a topic about which they can get emotional, not always arguing from a strong position.

David Nucifora won't name his first Blues squad on October 28 with the aim of being nice.

But there are several Harbour players whose cases for inclusion range from good to incontestable.

Putting in a strong performance against a positional rival tonight won't on its own decide Super 14 selection.

Consistent quality is more important.

But it certainly won't hurt.

You can be sure there'll be an edge tonight.

After all, it wouldn't be a proper crosstown showdown if there wasn't.