It will need to maintain its discipline.
And it will need to squeeze even more out of its hard-working pack.
Taieri awaits. And the semifinal at Watson Park promises to be tense.
When the sides met earlier this year, Taieri emerged victorious 21-20.
The Hawks clinched the semifinal berth thanks to a Logan Allen 50m penalty in the last play of the game, sealing a 13-10 win against Dunedin.
But coach Ryan Nicholas said the forwards laid the groundwork for the victory.
"I thought our forward pack was outstanding in the weekend.
"The scrum was dominant, we pinched a lot of their lineout ball and we stifled everything they tried to get going," he said.
If anything, Harbour squandered a couple of opportunities to secure the win earlier.
"We’ve been doing a lot more homework on the opposition which is really starting to bear a lot of fruit.
"It is just about having a good understanding of what we want to do and making sure everyone is on board.
"It is pretty simple stuff but it is the key for club rugby given the amount of time you’ve got together."
Loose forward-cum-lock Charles Elton and midfielder Aleki Morris-Lome are unavailable as a result of Otago commitments.
Morris-Lome has played only one match for the Hawks this season, so the side is used to making do without the talented player.
But Elton’s unavailability will be keenly felt.
He has been an instrumental figure for Harbour wherever he plays in the pack.
First five-eighth Toka Sopoaga is likely to be missing as well.
He suffered a head knock during the second half against Dunedin and left the field.
Allen will shuffle into the No10 jersey if Sopoaga is not available.
He has played in that position a lot, so it will not be much of a shift.
Allen has a raking left-foot punt which can be weaponised.
Harbour will look to exploit any field position it can extract out of its kicking game and put Taieri under pressure for sustained periods.
Discipline and patience will be the key because the Eels, while they lost to Southern last weekend, are one of the harder teams to break down in the competition.
"Taieri are a well-coached team. They are nuggety, they just get into their work and don’t make a lot of mistakes.
"Defensively, they work hard so they are going to be tough.
"They have a decent forward pack to launch from and they get key guys like Matt Whaanga back."