Miter Cup 10: North Harbor stuns Tasman champions and ends 15-game winning streak

Let’s start with Bryn Gatland first by praising North Harbor for their surprising 40-24 win over Tasman in their 10 Miter Cup match in Albany on Sunday.

Gatland’s 10th port was by no means the only reason his team snapped its losing streak and ended the first division champion Tasman’s 15-game undefeated streak, but when a guy kicks he contributes 20 points. by kicking all 8 goal attempts, you must give him his debts. .

Tasman was cut down to 13 men in this drama-filled encounter with fixtures Isaac Salmon and Samuel Manemos on yellow cards within the third quarter, but it doesn’t make sense for someone at Mako to try to blame referee Nick Briant for making mistakes at QBE Stadium.

Taking that as an excuse would be an excuse.

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Because Harbor was just too good; They got their game plan right, their defense was excellent, and they were motivated to show Tasman and the rest of the competition that they are far from a wasted force after three previous losses.

Tasman players must stand in front of a full-length mirror if they seek reasons for the result.

Poor discipline – around 20 penalties conceded – an unstable scrum, an inability to match the fire of Harbor’s forwards on breakdown and unusual fumbles all contributed.

However, it was Tasman who fired the first shot.

Wing Mark Talea posed as a cheek boy stealing a salami from the pantry in the 23rd minute when he intercepted a Gatland rocket pass, running nearly 90 yards to score.

Gatland got the right idea when trying to change the nut at high speed, but didn’t trust Talea’s immaculate timing as he left defenders coughing into his stream of water.

Talea’s euphoria lasted two minutes; it was her fumble from kickoff that ultimately led Harbor to counterattack; They camped in Tasman’s 22-meter zone for several minutes before Jared Page slid into the corner.

Despite the wide angle, Gatland calmly converted the five points and a penalty blast at halftime extended the lead to 16-10 as the teams raced to their respective dungeons.

Tasman’s coaches Andrew Goodman and Clark Dermody might have been tempted to pinch their noses while looking at the poor results on the stat sheet.

That won’t have changed by the time the full-time bell rang.

Tasman was fortunate not to have a yellow card player for being repeatedly offside in that first period, and they also only had 34 percent possession and 38 percent territory.

The first few minutes of the second spell were a nightmare for Tasman.

Salmon and Mainet were tagged with yellow cards while Harbor patrolled, using their scrum to humiliate the Tasmanian herd within 22m.

Imagine the dismay of the forwards, then when Harbor, against 13 men, remember, he chose to kick a penalty rather than exploit his superior numbers in attack.

But this tactic was the correct one. The scoreboard kept ticking and Tasman, even when running back Finlay Christie caught a pass from Luteru Tolai, never seemed to get back into the fight.

When Tasman regained full strength, they had the satisfaction of knowing they had weathered that storm, conceding just 3 points and scoring 5 thanks to Christie.

It was an attempt to hook Tolai, from a maul, in the fourth quarter that enhanced Harbor’s optimism of winning this.

And so it turned out. Harbor rattled on a total of four attempts. This was the result they deserved.

North port 40 (Jared Page, Luteru Tolai, James Little, Teague McElroy tries; Bryn Gatland 4 with, 4 pen) Tasman 24 (Mark Talea, Finlay Christie, David Havili tries; Mitch Hunt 3 with, pen), HT: 16-10.