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Harbour name experienced side to counter the 'Canterbury All Blacks'

Bryn Gatland. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The North Harbour team for the season-opening Mitre 10 Cup match has been confirmed and has an exciting look about it to face the challenge of a strong Canterbury side.

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All of the forward pack has played Super Rugby with the front row being a more than capable unit and featuring All Blacks squad member Karl Tu’inukuafe as well as his Blues teammates Luteru Tolai and Sione Mafileo

Dillon Hunt will lead the team from the side of the scrum alongside Ethan Roots (Crusaders) and Murphy Taramai who was with the Hurricanes this year.

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The Breakdown | Episode 33 | Looking ahead to Mitre 10 Cup

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The Breakdown | Episode 33 | Looking ahead to Mitre 10 Cup

Wings, Ngarohi McGarvey-Black and Walter Fifita will make their debut for the side. However, McGarvey-Black has played for the All Blacks Sevens since 2018 and could be a real handful if he gets space.

There are three experienced players in the backline with the two Bryns – Hall at halfback and Gatland at first-five – whilst Chiefs stalwart Shaun Stevenson will inject himself from fullback. The trio have played 78, 31 and 30 games respectively for Harbour over the years.

“We’re really looking forward to the challenge of the ‘Canterbury All Blacks’, they’ve got a pretty stacked team,” said coach Kieran Keane. “We’re looking forward to it and hope to do ourselves proud at home.

“We’ve gone with a more experienced, tried and true XV mainly because of who we are up against. Everybody has had a good week and we can’t wait for the game to kick off.”

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The game kicks off at 7.05pm NZT Friday 11 September at North Harbour Stadium.

North Harbour: Shaun Stevenson, Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, James Little, Walter Fifita, Bryn Gatland, Bryn Hall, Murphy Taramai, Dillon Hunt (c), Ethan Roots, Jacob Pierce, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Sione Mafileo, Luteru Tolai, Karl Tu’inukuafe. Reserves: Zane Turner, Teague McElroy, Jimmy Roots, Tim Sail, Tamarau McGahan, Lewis Gjaltema, Fine Inisi, Tomas Aoke.

– with Harbour Rugby

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AM 39 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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