Harbour 59
Southern 10
Harbour dominate weak Southern side.
Ouch. How long has it been since Southern was dealt to like that at Bathgate Park?Harbour has been in tremendous form recently but it ran in 11 tries to record a 59-10 against the defending champion.
In Southern’s defence — and the Magpies could use some help in that department — the team was significantly under-strength.
Form winger Josh Gordon, fullback Bryce Hosie, lock Pari Pari Pakinson, props Hisa Sasagi and Simon Knight were unavailable for the game. From the run-on 15 from last year’s final, Southern fielded just two players.
It is also clear what a big impact Mika Mafi’s recent departure has had on the club. The powerful No8 is one of the harder men to stop in the competition but he is now playing his rugby in Oamaru.
Harbour ran the ball from everywhere and just about everybody was rewarded with a try.
Highlanders utility back Sio Tomkinson showed his class, while everyone with the last name Pole — there are three of them — had a strong game, particularly Solomon. He had a storming game at No8.
Loose forward Kyle Harris kept plugging away for Southern and centre Paul Tupai tackled everything in sight.
The win has lifted Harbour into the top four.
Harbour will face Varsity this weekend which will be a true test for the boys to see if they are genuine championship contenders.
Sekonia Pole is unavailable this weekend as he has an exam for university and Hale T-Pole and Sione Misiloi are away overseas for two weeks.
Chucky Koroi returns from a hamstring strain this weekend and the boys will welcome back Fijian international Naulia Dawai, back from his professional stint in Ireland
Hawks kick off against Varsity 2.45 at University oval on Saturday
In other the news the Seniors went down to Middlemarch on the weekend but lost due to a lack of numbers, the Colts had a close loss to Alhambra-Union.
Read the full ODT article here