Harbour 45
Taieri 15
Harbour snapped a three-game losing streak and warmed up for its semifinal clash with Dunedin by hammering Taieri 45-15 at Watson Park.
The Hawks’ pack sent an early message with a simple but effective move from a 5m lineout.
Hale T-Pole, who gave a commanding performance in the lineout, took the ball down and flicked it to powerful loose forward Naulia Dawai, who charged down the blindside.
He got his arms through the tackle and unloaded to hooker Sekonaia Pole to score in the corner.
It was all too easy and the Hawks have scored that way countless times this season.
Dawai was in the action moments later, when first five-eighth Joe Collins went around his marker, drew the fullback and found Dawai in support.
Everyone in the Hawks pack was lining up to hit the ball up.
One of its strengths is it has so many quality ball carriers and Dawai and T-Pole were particularly impressive.
Dawai added his second to give the Hawks a 19-3 lead after 20 minutes.
Taieri was not able to get any traction and from another turnover, Harbour swept 80m to score a bonus-point fourth try.
Taieri responded on the stroke of halftime when lock Brendon Murdoch muscled over but it had been comprehensively outplayed.
That trend continued in the second spell with Harbour adding three more tries in a display which signalled how hard it will be to beat in the semifinals.
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