Yesterday Harbour were comprehensively beaten five tries to two in their second pre season fixture of the 2008 season by local neighbours Northland. Northland, with two harbourrugby.com favourites, Blair Urlich & Marty Veale, in their squad, would be pleased with a win in their first game of the season.
Next up for Harbour is an away game versus BOP on Friday.
North Harbour 14 (C. Smylie, J. York tries; B. Botica 2 cons) Northland 31 (J. Payne (2), L. Talia (2), R. Ranger tries; D. Howell 3 cons)
Halftime: tbc
NHRFU Squad Review 2008
Head Coach extraordinaire Wayne Pivac has named his initial squad and in unusual developments has selected every senior player in North Harbour Rugby. When asked why he chose 1000+ players, he answered, "best not to leave any stone unturned, you never know where the next James Rodley might come from". read
more here
Harbour beaten in first pre season fixture
Harbour were well beaten in their first outing of the season by a well drilled Hawke's Bay team. Hawke's Bay had three previous pre season games (77-0 vs. Wairarapa Bush, 61-45 vs. Bay of Plenty & TBC vs. Poverty Bay) under their belt coming into this game while Harbour were starting from scratch.
Only time will tell how much we can read into this result!
North Harbour 10 (C. Evans try; J. Gopperth con, pen) Hawke's Bay 28 (G. Naoupu, J. Kupa, A. Bradley, J. Allen tries; M. Berquist 4 cons)
Halftime: 03 - 14
A Magpie supporter sums the match up ...
"It was a pretty wet, cold and dark afternoon (they needed to turn the lights on the ground at 4pm), not condusive to free flowing rugby.
The Magpies won the scrums - the lineouts were pretty even, and both sides were willing at the breakdowns. For me the standouts were Bryn Evans who really looks to have stepped up his game following his time with the Blues. He played like you expect a senior player too - was good in the lineouts, excellent at kickoffs, and was another loose forward at the breakdown. I think that the ELV's will definately suit a player of his size and skill.
The South African lock (sorry can't remember his name) looked good when he came on too - a very high work rate and a very very big boy not afraid to use his size.
it was a steady game without being too spectacular for the backline - it was not conditions for back play but the boys still threw it around a lot and mostly it came off, following a few handling errors at the start of the game.
Jimmeh did not really stand out in his first game for Harbour - one good break in the second half, but a few wrong choices to kick when there were overlaps outside.
Harbour tried hard in the second half and deserved their try at the start of the second half (during one of the several hail storms during the game)."
North Harbour 2008 Fixture List
Pre Season Fixtures
vs. Hawkes Bay at North Shore RFC, Saturday 5 Jul, 3.00pm
vs. Northland at East Coast Bays RFC, Saturday 12 Jul, 4.30pm
vs. Bay of Plenty (Away), Friday 18 July
vs. Southland (Away), Thursday 24 July
Air New Zealand Cup Fixtures
vs. Taranaki at New Plymouth, Friday 1 Aug, 7.35pm vs. Wellington at Albany, Thursday 7 Aug, 7.05pm
vs. Bay of Plenty at Mt Manganui, Saturday 16 Aug, 2.35pm vs. Waikato at Albany, Sunday 24 Aug, 2.35pm
vs. Manuwatu at Palmerston North, Saturday 30 Aug, 5.30pm vs. Canterbury at Albany, Saturday 6 Sept, 7.35pm
vs. Southland at Invercargill, Saturday 13 Sept, 5.30pm vs. Northland at Albany, Sunday 21 Sept, 2.35pm vs. Auckland at Albany, Saturday 27 Sept, 2.35pm
vs. Counties Manukau at Mt Smart, Saturday 4 Oct, 5.30pm
An Ode to Dustow
One of the better performing players over a reasonable length of time has been the now Bays hooker – Roger Dustow.
Filling the shoes of Slade McFarland was never going to be an easy task, ... read
more here
Supporters of the Year!
Some people really go the extra mile to support their team of choice.
Here at harbourrugby.com we decided the fans that decided to decorate their fence & house in the Harbour colours have to take the award for Supporters of the Year!
The Harbour Hamster Reviews the 2007 Season
Possibly the worst season in the Union’s history, let’s get the knives out …
J Hinchco – no good. Possibly the worst player on the park. Can’t throw, can’t catch, doesn’t commit to the
tight ... apart from that a fair player. In my opinion just not ... read
more here
Updated feedback from the masses
The harbourrugby.com inbox continues to be inundated with e-mails from our readers.
- Ian's open letter to Wayne Pivac read
more here
- Read a selection of the best e-mails we have received since the shield debacle here
1994 - The year that was
1994 was the coming of age of North Harbour Rugby; throughout the nineties we had gained momentum as a union and finally we had a stable of thoroughbred racehorses that could compete in the larger provincial and international arena.
Life was good, beer was cheap, student loans were plentiful and sperm donation paid well.
Out the in big, wide world it was a different story ... read
more here
Feedback
from the masses
The
torrent of e-mails into the harbourrugby.com inbox continues.
Thanks
for your support!
Send your thoughts to info@harbourrugby.com
2007
correspondence can be viewed
here or the correspondence archive can be found
here
