A Lid on the Steamers

QBE Insurance North Harbour have beaten the fancied Bay of Plenty in an entertaining match at Albany Stadium.

The day began poorly for both sides with the late replacements of key players.  For the Steamers it was their tighthead prop James McGougan replaced by Ted Tauroa who went on to have a tough night against Harbour’s Michael Reid.  For the home team it was halfback Chris Smylie who was a late withdrawal with his long term hamstring problem giving him grief.  This bought Nalu Tuigamala into the starting line-up for his starting debut, and what a night it was for the young star.

The Steamers problems got rapidly worse within the first 12 minutes as they lost three more players to injury and conceded 6 points through penalties to North Harbour.  First to go was right wing Ben Smith, quickly followed by halfback Junior Poluleuligaga.  The replacement halfback lasted only a few minutes too before injury took him from the field and centre Nigel Hunt was shifted into halfback.  This was only the sideshow to the real story though.

The North Harbour forwards were achieving dominance over the Bay pack in all facets of their work.  This foundation gave a dream ride to the new halfback who repaid the compliment as a quality half should – creating space for the backline and finishing off two tries.  The first of these came in the 23^rd minute as the result of mounting pressure from Harbour, something had to give, as superb defence and clearance from rucks led to a right wing overlap.  Tuigamala found himself on the end of the sweeping move and at the 22 with only the Steamers tighthead prop to beat – which only had one outcome.  Though unconverted, the 11-0 score line was good reward for a strong first quarter

The next Harbour try came only 4 minutes later. Again the space and front foot ball earned by the forwards created the space for Mike Harris to carve a run away through the Steamer’s midfield and float an inside ball back into space.  Luke McAlister was flying through the angled channel opened up by Harris, caught the pass on his fingertips and scored under the bar.  While the crowd took a moment to look around in disbelief at 18-0 on the scoreboard, the home team got straight back into their work and put another clinical try within minutes.

This third try was Tuigamala’s second.  It typified the play of QBE Insurance North Harbour.  Direct well timed running from the outside backs, this time Rudi Wulf, bought play deep into Bay territory where support players streamed through.  Michael Reid, Filo Paulo, James King and Vili Ma’afu all provided a quick, accurate link in the chain which ended with the try.  30 minutes gone and the home team had a scoreboard to admire, 25 – 0.

The Bay of Plenty’s lead players began to assert their presence and worked their team into the game, but Bay of Plenty struggled to complete phases which they would normally have based their game around.  Delany and Bourke showed their speed and deft running, but the half spluttered to a close as the Bay turned down a shot at goal for the lineout and opportunity to score a try, and it too was lost to the home team.

The second half began with more urgency from the visitors.  The contributions from Tanerau Latimer, Bourke and Delany led their effort as it was to for the remainder of the game, but generally it was hard to get continuity going when the ball wasn’t in either of their hands.  The exception was 10 minutes into the second half when a left wing break resulted in a series of rucks on the North Harbour try-line and the only try of the half to lock Culum Retallick.  In the lead up to the try, Bay hooker John Paerenga was hit in a massive off the ball tackle by Filo Paulo, who justly sat out the next 10 minutes of the match.  The sin-bin period was fruitless for Bay of Plenty but did produce a successful penalty for Mike Harris to put the score out 28 - 7.

Both sides preferred to run the ball back at their opponents, putting away the aerial ping pong options.  This meant a fast flowing game of skill and verve.  Delaney was a mesmerising handful for the Harbour defence - his ability to step and fend off the defenders was brilliant to watch.  When Bourke or Latimer were trucking through in support, the Bay were hard to stop and it was a credit to the North Harbour defence that his many jinking runs did not result in a try.  The speed and kicking game of Bourke was an awesome sight as well – though he too was contained.  For North Harbour, James King’s play shone as brightly as his CCC headgear.  Dominant in the lineout and playing as a tight forward should at ruck and maul time, he somehow found the legs to make big breaks away down field with ball in hand.  The Bay defence were up to tackling the loping giraffe, so he his final break featured an audacious dummy pass and grubber kick that would make any winger proud.

The second half was studded with breaks, passing and tackles from both teams which thrilled the crowd.  The spectacle, the sheer entertainment shown by the two teams continues a tradition of great running rugby between these two teams.  It played out to the end with Harbour seeking the fourth and bonus point try, the Bay desperately after a way through the defence of the home team – and neither succeeding.

The Steamers came into the match with their hard-won reputation as contenders this year, but have left with that hope in tatters and their depth tested sorely.  QBE Insurance North Harbour needed to reassert their self-belief and have done so.

Best on Ground:

QBE Insurance North Harbour: James King; Nalu Tuigamala; Ben Afeaki; Mike Mayhew; Anthony Boric; Luke McAlister; Rudi Wulf

Bay of Plenty: Mike Delany; Colin Bourke; Tanerau Latimer; Jason Hona; Culum Retallick