North Harbour's Michael Harris overshadowed Dan Carter's much-anticipated return to first class rugby as the unheralded fly-half dented Canterbury's Air New Zealand Cup title defence at the first hurdle on Saturday.
Harbour beat Canterbury 22-19 after Harris coolly slotted a 78th-minute penalty to break a 19-all deadlock at North Harbour. Carter, making his first appearance for Canterbury since 2006, ticked off another stage of his comeback to competitive rugby since suffering an Achilles tendon injury while playing for Perpignan on his French sabbatical in January.
Carter was subbed just after the hour mark and had to be content to probe for territory. He rarely took on the line - one significant break came unstuck when his floated try-scoring pass to Sean Maitland was ruled forward as the wing dotted down. However, his kicking kept an ill-disciplined Canterbury in the contest.
Canterbury scored the first try after a hopeful hoist from the 10-metre line turned out perfectly. Scrum-half Tyson Keats regained possession and fed Maitland, who evaded marker Anthony Tuitavake before outstripping Harris to dive over in the left-hand corner. Carter landed the sideline conversion and added a penalty after the hooter to give Canterbury a 16-12 lead at the break.
Carter posted another three-pointer in the 53rd minute before Harbour finally strung together a threatening move on the hour. Harris set the backline free down the blindside and when George Pisi cut in off the wing Canterbury's defence was fractured, allowing centre Andrew Mailei to put Anthony Tuitavake over for a try in the corner. Harris emulated Carter by nailing the angled conversion, a precursor to his killer blow after Canterbury captain George Whitelock was pinged at a ruck 35 metres out and dead in front.
Hawke's Bay fully justified the faith of their supporters by convincingly beating Auckland 47-13 on Saturday.
Despite Hawke's Bay not beating Auckland since 1974, their fans had talked up the team's prospects and the players delivered to dominate at McLean Park, scoring five tries to one in the process.
They effectively sealed the result with their third try 16 minutes from time when former Wellington No.8 Thomas Waldrom ran strongly on to a short ball from scrum-half Chris Eaton. Hawke's Bay then nabbed a bonus point fourth try after a quick breakout by Eaton ended with prop Sona Taumalolo using his considerable strength to force the ball over the line after an arm wrestle. The cherry on the cake was added within seconds of the final hooter when wing Jason Kupa completed the try-scoring after Hawke's Bay turned over possession.
The home side had much the better of the opening 25 minutes, by which stage they led 13-3 following a long range try to left wing Zac Guildford and accurate goal-kicking from first five-eighth Mathew Berquist, who ended the match with 22 points after landing nine from 12 attempts. Guildford raced down the touchline from halfway after being freed following a midfield turnover by openside flanker Karl Lowe, before good passing from Waldrom and hooker Hika Elliott created space on the flank.
Having spent much of their time on tackling duty, Auckland slowly but surely battled their way back into the contest courtesy of first five-eighth Daniel Bowden, who contributed all their points from a try, two penalties and a conversion. Hawke's Bay had the last word in the first half when the energetic Lowe ran through some thin defence on the short side from a lineout close to the try-line.
Southland kicked off their season with a famous win, condemning Waikato to a 16-6 defeat in Invercargill on Saturday.
In an error-strewn first-half, the Waikato lineout was erratic at best, allowing the home side a feast of possession. Nevertheless, the half-time score was a lowly 3-3, Southland's Robbie Robinson and Mooloo man Callum Bruce trading penalties.
The Stags improved after the break, with their possession finally translating in to territory. A concerted effort on the Waikato line produced the first, and as it turned out only, try of the game, for wing Pehi Te Whare. Popping up in midfield, Te Whare took a pop pass from his skipper Jamie Mackintosh and having positioned himself in behind the onrushing defence, scooted over for a simple score.
Try as they might in the closing stages, the visitors never really threatened to cross the Southland line and Robinson added another penalty to ensure victory and deny a losing bonus point to the sub-standard away side.
Manawatu bounced off the ropes in the second half to beat Counties Manukau 36-31 in their opener on Sunday. Trailing 14-24 at halftime, Manawatu outscored Counties three tries to one after the break and snatched an unlikely win to the delight of their fans. Counties needed just 36 seconds to score after Manawatu failed to control the kickoff.
Fullback Ahsee Tuala snaffled the loose ball and burst down the blindside flank before feeding blindside flanker Sikeli Nabou for the dot-down. The early gift saw Counties build on that momentum and add three more tries through prop Simon Lemalu, dangerous All Black winger Lelia Masaga and the industrious Tuala.
Manawatu kept themselves in the game with three Aaron Cruden penalties and a try to fullback Casey Stone who finished off a counterattack started by skipper Nick Croswell on the opposite flank. They narrowed the gap through a try centre Frank Bryant but immediately coughed up another try to Counties' Josh Hall. In a purple patch of 10 minutes Manawatu put Counties under sustained pressure and substitute centre Tevita Taufui scored two tries that were converted by Cruden.
On Friday, Wellington hung on to the Ranfurly Shield despite a disjointed, error-ridden performance, beating Otago 23-19 in Wellington on Friday to kick-off their Air New Zealand Cup campaign.
Fly-half Fa'atonu Fili was Wellington's saviour after coming on to replace Daniel Kirkpatrick 50 minutes in. Fili's authoritative play settled Wellington down in the final 30 minutes and his two conversions and drop-goal with seven minutes to go sealed the win for his side.
Otago, seeking to regain the Shield they last won in 1957, led 11-3 at halftime and were the better side for most of the game. Wellington were pinned inside their own half and put under immense pressure when Kirkpatrick bungled three restarts to give Otago gift-wrapped attacking opportunities.
Otago No.10 Chris Noakes scored all his side's points in the first half with two penalties and a try; Wellington's only reply was a Kirkpatrick penalty.
After another penalty from Kirkpatrick, a Wellington counter-attack led by Shaun Treeby sent replacement lock Daniel Ramsay to score between the posts. The shield holders finally gave a glimpse of their attacking firepower when centre Robert Fruean broke out and found winger Hosea Gear. Gear galloped past opposing winger Karne Hesketh to score in the corner.
Fili converted and added a drop-goal before an all-out Otago push saw skipper Adam Thomson score an unconverted try in the corner in the final minute - not enough to take the Shield away.
Also on Friday, Bay of Plenty placed their coaching crisis on the back burner and recovered from an ill-disciplined first half to stun Northland 19-14 in Rotorua. Bay of Plenty, who started their campaign with head coach Greg Smith in exile and subject to an employment review, piled on 16 unanswered points after the break as first fly-half Mike Delany utilised a useful breeze with a sound goal-kicking display.
Initially they had to settle for a Delany penalty to chip into a 3-14 halftime deficit in the 50th minute, but soon after the home side's transformation was rewarded again when flanker Luke Braid rounded off an 80-metre break. Delany then stepped up to give Bay of Plenty the lead on the hour, and three minutes later the pivot scored another three-pointer when prop Bronson Murray paid for Northland's persistent infringing with a yellow card.
Northland started impressively when wing Troy Woodman - one of their 12 debutants - was put over in the right hand corner after Zar Lawrence dropped a Munro bomb in the eighth minute. Munro also profited from Bay of Plenty's poor discipline as referee Josh Noonan awarded the visitors nine first-half penalties - three of which were kickable for the former Auckland playmaker. Bay of Plenty had to be content with a solitary penalty by Delany in the 12th minute before a pep talk from caretaker coach's Steve Miln and Shaun Horan had the desired effect.
On Thursday, Taranaki racked up 18 unanswered second-half point in a hard-earned 21-9 win over Tasman in Blenheim.
In calm, cool conditions at Landsdowne Park, Taranaki found themselves nine points down after just 20 minutes, with Tasman captain Andrew Goodman nailing a stunning penalty from inside his own half, after two earlier successful kicks from the boot of team-mate James Marshall.
It was not until just after the half-hour mark that Taranki got off the mark, through a penalty from Willie Ripia, but they looked like a completely different side after the interval. Jayden Hayward's try proved crucial to the transformation, the winger scything through the Tasman defence to score under the sticks just three minutes into the second half. Ripia converted and then added a penalty soon after to put Taranaki four points up (13-9).
The momentum was now very much with the visitors and they pulled further clear when Shayne Austin touched down after being released by a sumptuous one-handed pass from Ripia. Ripia rather surprisingly failed to convert but he made amends by slotting over a penalty with just ten minutes to play to kill off any chance of a Tasman comeback.