Tries: A Macdonald (2), K Mealamu,
D Howlett, J Rokocoko, M Muliaina
Cons: B Ward (4)

A few weeks back, Allan Pollock lamented the lack of support at Harbour matches and even went so far as to question whether we deserved a team that was playing such great rugby. Well, Polly, let me tell you something: North Harbour fans owned the terraces on Saturday night and they owned them despite knowing that, as usual, their team would choke in a big match against the Scum.

With 10 minutes to go and about 20 points behind, it was the Harbour mob who were making the most noise. Had we won Saturday's game, I venture, we would probably be adding another 5000 to our opening NPC home game next season. As it happens, the faithful will trot off home and stash away their scarves, ponchos, and blow-up dolls dressed in blue and white stripes for another two years, when they will be dusted off once more and taken with enthusiasm to the next debacle at Eden Park. And for once, I don't blame them. They outsang, out-fought, and out-strategised (two Scum fans taken by the cops, only one of ours) their opposites in a way that the guys on the pitch could only dream of.

The opening stanza was a monumental f**k-up. The Scum started out by hammering two of our youngsters, both of whom went on to have their worst 40 minutes of the season. Their loosies made ours appear amateurish, and the sight of their lock running half the length of the park to score would have been hilarious had I not been too busy drinking heavily to notice. The Scum's stand-out players - their loosies, Ali Williams, Doug Howlett's hair, and Bryce Lawrence, were unstoppable. Poor wee Georgie Pisi had his first taste of what it must be like to be his older brother, kicking like a lame mule and dropping catches of the sort he's been swallowing up all year. He did his best to make amends in the second half with some fantastic running and a great try, but the damage had long since been done. Waqaseduadua was possibly the only player to further his claim. Initial defensive weaknesses aside (let's be charitable), he looked dangerous whenever he got the ball in space, and his outside step is art. Pat Lam, obviously an avid reader of Harbourrugby.com had the decency to read last week's match report highlighting Junior Polu's weak delivery and instructed his loosies to murder him, which they did. Our tight five weren't actually as bad as the scoreline suggested, and although their tackling around the fringes was a bit of an abomination, they probably weren't expecting to have to tackle outside backs. Our line-outs were solid and our scrum stable. Perhaps the most disappointing thing was that we made players like Isa Nacewa and their peculiarly iffeminate first-five look much better than they actually are.

On the bright side, we got very drunk