Déjà Vu - 2 Draws in 2 Weeks
North Harbour B 23 - Bay of Plenty 23
After Counties pulled a controversial dying seconds try out the week before to secure a 21 all draw with Harbour it was déjà vu again this week versus Bay of Plenty.
BOP secured a hard fought draw with Harbour after scoring a last minute equalizer very deep into injury time. The match played in fantastic conditions in Kati Kati saw BOP take advantage of a strong wind to put Harbour under consistent defensive pressure throughout the first period. BOP controlled play for large parts of the first half and used the wind well to peg Harbour inside their own territory. Harbour defence despite a couple of penalty lapses was defiant and finally once Harbour gained some possession managed to put together a well constructed forward drive resulting in Shane Neville dotting down close to the posts. Harbour turned with the breeze at halftime leading 7 – 6.
The 2nd half continued in similar vein to the first with BOP dominating large periods of play. Both sides traded penalties before BOP ended the deadlock with a well worked driving try to go out to a 16-10 lead with 20 minutes to go. Harbour showing the character they have displayed so far this season stepped up a gear and fought back through a brilliant try from Tutu Tairea, on the back of a flowing movement from Harbour. Tutu beat 2 defenders then stepped the fullback before showing too much pace for the covering defence to score close to the posts. Richard Lobb added a further penalty to push Harbour out to 23-16 with a couple of minutes to play. Déjà vu deep into injury time BOP grabbed the equaliser after consistent pressure on the Harbour line and slotted the conversion to leave the game tied 23-23 at fulltime.
Harbour will look to finish the season unbeaten when they take on Auckland B at Mahurangi RFC this Saturday, Kick Off is 2.30pm. Harbour would really look forward to as much support as possible this Saturday.