North Harbour Representative Round-Up for 15/16 September

The Harbour Hibiscus Women put away the visitors from Tasman 51-14 scoring 9 tries in the double header with the Mitre 10 Cup team vs Bay of Plenty. The Women excelled on their home pitch to win comfortably after a half-time lead of 27-14 with tries to Pia Tapsell (2), Juliana Newman (2), Kelsey Macdonald, Katelyn Hilton, Claudia McMeekin, Amy Robertshaw and Sophie Fisher scored a try and kicked 3 conversions. The Hibiscus sit in second spot in the championship jointly with Otago and look good for a semi-final.

The Under 19’s bounced back from their big loss to Bay of Plenty in the semi-finals of the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 tournament in Taupo to defeat Wellington 21-10 to secure third place for the second year in a row.  A very credible performance overall with three good wins in the Blues region seeding round, the quarter-finals over Tasman followed by the win over Wellington.

Harbour Men’s B travelled to Manurewa RFC to play Counties who were are sitting 3 points behind Auckland who are leading the Northern Region Competition. Harbour squeezed out a 39-36 win to jump from 4^th to 3^rd behind Counties but Harbour have a game in hand.  North Harbour produced a gob smacking first 40 minutes which took the Steelers supporters by surprise with a 32 – 8 lead and be in full control at half time. The game had changed and a big Counties comeback occurred with Harbour in full defensive mode. In a very entertaining display of running rugby, Counties racked up 28 points but Harbour managed to keep their composure and tackled their hearts out. Tries went to Hauwai McGahan, Dwayne Polataivao, Gannon Moore, Tito Sufia, Nick Smith, with Jack Bergin adding 2 Penalties, 4 Conversions for a total of 14 points. Player of the day was prop Ian Fata.

The U85 secured their first win of the season over Counties Manukau also at Manurewa winning 27-18 in their best performance of the season. Counties had an early lead from a try down the blindside but fullback Cameron Dalzell pegged it back with three penalties for a half-time score of 9-11.  Harbour dominated the second half however starting with an early try to Dalzell plus the extras then pivot Jim Napier crossed out wide in the corner. Two more penalties went to the reliable Dalzell but Counties got in a late converted try to finish the day. Player of the day was Cameron Dalzell for his massive contribution of 22 points.

The U18 Girls lost 17-40 to Auckland West at Waitemata RFC and the U14/U16 boys teams had a tough day also at Waitemata with U16 Cardinal losing closely 18-22 to Auckland East, U16 White going down 14 -72 to Auckland South, U14 Cardinal lost 21-44 to Auckland East and U14 White losing 11-52 to Auckland South.

The fixtures this weekend 22 September have Harbour Hibiscus Women travelling to Napier to face Hawkes Bay Tui’s in another double header at 11.35am prior to the Harbour Mitre 10 Cup team match against the Magpies at 2.35pm.  Men’s B host Taranaki at 1pm at East Coast Bays RFC, Windsor Park with the U85’s following at 2.30pm against King Country Development in their last fixture for 2018. U18 Girls travel to Pakuranga United RFC at Bell Park against Auckland East.  U16 Cardinal play a catch-up game at Marist NH RFC vs Auckland Central Wednesday 19 September at 6.30pm.

The U14 and U16 play their cross-over finals at Auckland Marist RFC on Saturday 22 September, as follows:

U16 Cardinal vs Northland South at 12.30pm on Auckland Marist 3 for 5^th/6^th play-off

U16 White vs Northland North at 12.30pm on Auckland Marist 4 for 7th/8th Playoff

U14 Cardinal vs Northland South at 11am on Auckland Marist 3 for 5^th/6^th play-off

U14 White vs Northland North at 12.30pm on Auckland Marist 2 for 7th/8th Playoff

Auckland Marist/Tamaki RFC is at Mt Wellington War Memorial Domain in Dunkirk Rd, Panmure.

Roller Mills play their last pre-season game vs Northland at Northcote RFC at 2pm Saturday 22 September. Tournament is 6-13 October Tournament in Cambridge at St Peters College in the Waikato.