Harbour caught some wind midway through the second half to breeze to a 40-17 win against Zingari-Richmond at Watson Park on Saturday.
But it was a flawed performance. The Hawks lost two players to the sin bin in the opening 40 minutes.
Winger Viliame Fine got lippy with the referee and hooker Bruce Kauika-Petersen got himself offside at the ruck once too often.
Zingari-Richmond midfielder Keenan Masina ran through a large gap to score from 15m out, and veteran loose forward Chris Bell muscled his way over late in the half to give his side a 17-12 lead at the break.
The Colours missed an early penalty to extend the lead but were looking good — right up until they started falling off tackles at an alarming rate.
Harbour centre Sala Halaleva brushed past Bell and Ethan Masani in the midfield and ran in from 40m out.
The Hawks had found a crack in the defence on the right flank and Halaleva kept exploiting it. He made another couple of nice touches to set-up Fine for a double.
Fine’s brace of tries came about a minute apart and ended the contest.
Harbour prop Abraham Pole stood out with some strong carries but Halaleva was the star, while loose forward Simon Pupualii and Masina put in good shifts for Zingari-Richmond.
Dunedin 31 Kaikorai 28
This game had everything some breathtaking tries, bruising defence, glaring errors, serious injury and a ground change.
Dunedin clocked up seven players lost to injury but still managed to win. The home team Kaik will still be shaking their heads as to how they lost.
Josh Moorby scored early but shortly afterwards first five-eighth George Witana suffered a neck injury and concussion and players were forced to change fields.
Dunedin owned most of the first half and winger Sione Vea scored twice to give it a 19-7 lead at the break.
Moorby broke again in the second spell which led to replacement midfielder Ben Shepherd going over.
But Dunedin were losing players at an alarming rate and lost both locks, a couple of loosies and a prop thrown in. It struggled to win a lineout in the second spell and the home team took control with a plethora of possession. With tries to Carter, hooker Henry Bell and flanker Jake Russ, Kaikorai led by four points with a few minutes left.
Dunedin was on its knees but it kept making big defensive hits and forcing penalties. Replacement forwards Naryan Strickland and Tom Hume led the charge.
Dunedin won another turnover 70m out. Winger Tommy Clout found space and chipped over the cover defence. The ball bounced into the hands of fellow winger Oscar Schmidt-Uili and he raced away to give Dunedin the win.
For Dunedin, Moorby was best in the backs, moving into first five-eighth for over an hour.
Prop Kees Scott and flanker Angus Duckett were into everything while Strickland and Hume led the heroics in the last 20 minutes.
Kaikorai only had itself to blame as its finishing was very poor and it squandered lots of opportunities. Thomas was its best back and Slade McDowell was the brilliant nuisance he always is on the flank,
University 35 Taieri 12
It is hard to predict which University side will show up.
Will it be the crew which coasted to a narrow loss to Alhambra-Union or the team which almost put 50 points on Harbour?
Taieri got the latter at the University of Otago Oval on Saturday.
The students went to work up front through the likes of devastating hooker Ricky Jackson and up and coming loose forward Sean Withy.
But it was first five-eighth Sam Clarke who really made the difference and set up a 35-12 win.
He has made his way down to Dunedin from Wellington to crack the Otago side and he impressed with a dominant performance.
The Eels scored first, in somewhat fortunate fashion.
The pass to outside Marc Rooney went behind him but somehow he got a boot to it and toed it forward.
He won the race from 20m out to score.
Thereafter University turned up the set piece pressure. Taieri’s lineout has been wobbly and the students had the better of the scrum.
That dominance paid off in the final quarter of the game.
University led 10-5 at the break but ran in three tries to pull away.
Clarke ran from everywhere and looked every bit the classy operator.
Withy shifted to openside. He has played at No8 but looks better-suited to the side of the scrum.
He was industrious and carried strongly, and fullback Jermaine Pepe looked dangerous when the game opened up.
The match was called off a minute early, when Caleb Leef was knocked out following a shoulder charge from University forward Geordie Bean. He was taken to hospital and was released yesterday.
Bean received a red card.
Green Island 29 Alhambra-Union 20
Take Green Island’s word for it — it was lucky.
Very lucky.
Alhambra-Union was battering away at the line and looked like it might score and set up an exciting finish at the North Ground.
But the ball popped up out of the ruck and winger Michael Manson pounced. He scooped it up and ran 82m to touch down.
Alhambra-Union eventually got that second half try it was looking for but the game had slipped away by then.
It had trailed 24-15 at the break and made all the play in the second spell.
The Broncos lost a lot of lineout ball, though.
Green Island lock Mat McCutcheon proved their main nemesis. He was dynamic in the set piece.
Powerful No8 Dylan Nel scored two tries. Manson’s runaway effort was his second try, as well.
He did a lovely in-and-out to wrong-foot his marker in the opening half.
Fullback Isaak Te Hiwi shone on defence and attack.
But Alhambra-Union certainly had some good moments as well.
Centre and captain John Tapueluelu was threatening, while first five-eighth Levi Emery carved up the defence.
His combination with halfback Noah Hotham was slick and helped create a few extra seconds for those outside them.
- ODT rugby writers
