VENUE & TIME: North Harbour Stadium, Albany, Saturday September 4, 19.35 NZT.
HEAD TO HEAD: Played 31 – North Harbour 10, Waikato 19, drawn 2.
LAST TIME: October 1, 2009 (Hamilton) – Waikato 33-22 North Harbour.
LAST TIME AT VENUE: August 25, 2008 – North Harbour 15-10 Waikato.
MATCH ODDS: NZ TAB (Tuesday): North Harbour $2.60, Waikato $1.45.
WALKING WOUNDED: North Harbour won't be persisting with the Luke McAlister experiment and he returns to second-five, while Tom Chamberlain is replaced on the flank by Matt Luamanu. Richard Kahui (on the bench) and Ben May make comebacks from long layoffs for this match and Brendon Leonard is returned to the run-on XV, but otherwise the team that hammered Counties-Manukau has been retained.
FORM:
PAST FIVE:
North Harbour
Round 1: Lost to Auckland 14-36
Round 2: Beat Northland 25-24
Round 3: Lost to Canterbury 22-44
Round 4: Beat Otago 35-23
Round 5: Lost to Bay of Plenty 29-39
PAST FIVE:
Waikato
Round 1: Beat Bay of Plenty 13-10
Round 2: Beat Auckland 21-18
Round 3: Lost to Taranaki 23-33
Round 4: Lost to Wellington 14-26
Round 5: Beat Counties-Manukau 39-3
North Harbour is getting into a win-one, lose-one cycle which suggests a win is next, but Waikato will be a tough nut to crack. North Harbour was always chasing the game at Rotorua after giving up a couple of early scores and, despite four tries of its own, never looked a likely winner. Only a late try got the visitors a bonus point and the 10-point margin possibly flattered Harbour a touch. Waikato did the hard work in the first 40 against Counties-Manukau and cashed in later, piling up 32 unanswered points in its best effort of the year to date. Backs and forwards worked well together and several chances were finished in good style.
WHO'S HOT: Now James King is back to full fitness North Harbour has a real go-to guy at the lineout and he was commanding last weekend. Fellow lock Anthony Boric carried the ball strongly at times and was a presence around the park. Luke McAlister looked better once he was back in his usual second-five slot and made a few good breaks when he took it to the line. Waikato dominated through its forwards as the Hamilton game wore on, with Jack Lam doing a lot of constructive work. Tim Mikkelson finished a couple of good tries and Sosene Anesi showed he's still got good speed on an 80m run to the line after effecting a straight steal off Ahsee Tuala.
WE THINK: Waikato should be too good for a battling Harbour side this week if they play anything like as well as they did a week ago. The forwards set a good platform for a talented backline to cash in, which they duly did. We like Waikato by 10-15 points, although the Auckland weather may put a dampener on running play.
TEAMS:
North Harbour: 1. Michael Reid (captain), 2. James Parsons, 3. Ben Afeaki, 4. James King, 5. Anthony Boric, 6. Matt Luamanu, 7. Malakai Ravulo, 8. Richard Mayhew, 9. Chris Smylie, 10. Mike Harris, 11. Nafi Tuitavake, 12. Luke McAlister, 13. Jack Tarrant, 14. Alipate Fatafehi, 15. Jack McPhee.
Reserves: 16. Manu Leiataua, 17. James Afoa, 18. Filo Paulo, 19. Scott Uren, 20. Nalu Tuigamala, 21. Ben Botica, 22. Brendon Watt.
Waikato: