Miter Cup 10: Akira Ioane excels, but North Harbor holds on to beat Auckland

Akira Ioane gave the All Blacks selectors a timely reminder of his talents in Saturday’s Battle of the Bridge, but could not prevent North Harbor from recording a memorable victory over Auckland.

Number 8 may be on the All Blacks team, but he hasn’t played a test yet. He will go to Australia with the rest of Ian Foster’s team on Sunday and was only expected to be a fringe player for the Tri-Nations.

However, the 25-year-old was at his best in Auckland’s 23-22 loss to North Harbor.

It was a tough bridge battle between these two provinces, with North Harbor dominating the second half and Bryn Gatland nailing all five of her shots on goal.

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Many Harbor players stood out, but so did Ioane, who was given permission to play by Foster to increase his fitness, was outstanding.

Ioane set up Auckland’s first attempt, scored the last, was a constant threat with the ball in hand and impenetrable on defense. He is sometimes criticized for disappearing in games, but he was everywhere at North Harbor Stadium.

To what extent this performance will improve Ioane’s chances of playing in the upcoming events is something only the selectors will know, but there was nothing else he could have done.

Harbor is a team that has been improving as the season progressed. After losing their first three games, they defeated Tasman and Hawke’s Bay, before losing a close game to Wellington 25-20.

Therefore, no one should treat them lightly and they are showing that they have no certainty for relegation to the Championship.

The Battle of the Bridge rivalry is not the fierce competition it once was. Taking the All Blacks out of provincial rugby will mean that for a competition. But it was still a game played with great intensity.

Gatland gave Harbor the early lead, with a penalty in the sixth minute, but seven minutes later Ioane broke a tackle, drew in another defender and then passed the ball wide to prepare AJ Lam for the first down.

Three minutes later Auckland was back, with Tumua Manu finishing off, after prop James Lay breached Harbor’s defense.

In the 20th minute, Auckland’s Zarn Sullivan was trashed for a tip tackle on Shaun Stevenson.

But Harbor struggled to make the most of his man advantage. Gatland scored another penalty, but those were the only points Harbor scored as Auckland was left with 14 men.

At the end of the first half, Ioane made a more superb play, who perfectly timed a shot at Bryn Hall and then took the ball from him with the same movement.

In the last minute of the first half, Harry Plummer and Gatland exchanged penalties to make the score 15-9 at halftime against Auckland.

Within two minutes of the second half, James Little caught a ball from Hall on pace and crossed the Auckland line for Harbor’s first attempt, then Gatland put his team up 16-15 with the conversion.

Once Harbor got his nose up front, the whole team seemed to pick themselves up, as more mistakes crept into Auckland’s game.

Marcel Renata became the second Auckland player to receive a yellow card for being offside in a ruck in the 62nd minute.

Harbor chose to go for the lineout, rather than kick for three points and it paid off, with Luteru Tolai scoring from the maul. Gatland’s subsequent conversion gave Harbor an eight-point lead that Auckland failed to close out, despite Ioane scoring a try with four minutes remaining.

Take a look

North port 23 (James Little, Luteru Tolai tries; Bryn Gatland 3 pens 2 cons); Auckland 22 (AJ Lam, Tumua Manu, Akira John tries; Harry Plummer pen, 2 cons). HT: 9-15

MVP Points: 3 Akira John, 2 Bryn Gatland, 1 Sione Mafileo.