Wellington v North Harbour 1993 and 1999

Above: Wellington midfielder and now Manawatu coach Jason O'Halloran with flanker Kupu Vanisi in support, makes a break against North Harbour at Athletic Park in 1999. Photo credit: Evening Post 23/8/1999.

The 1990s was generally not a memorable decade in the 120 years of rugby in Wellington up to then.

After a consistent 1980s when the Wellington Lions were mostly amongst the top three sides in the country every year, they flattered to deceive for several straight years. The ITM Cup playoffs system was introduced in 1992 and it wasn't until 1999 that Wellington made the final four for the first time.

North Harbour, on the other hand, hit their straps in the 1990s.

Formed in 1985 as a breakaway union from Auckland, North Harbour made the playoffs for four straight years between 1992-95 and again in 1999.

Mirroring the rise of North Harbour, Wellington lost their first five NPC matches straight to North Harbour 1988-1992. It wasn't until 1993 that they beat them for the first time in championship rugby, winning comfortably 39-6.

The lead-up to their match in 1993 pointed to a sixth win for North Harbour over Wellington. The previous week the Lions had suffered a 14-51 loss to Auckland in what proved to be Auckland's 61^st and final Ranfurly Shield defence since they had won it off Canterbury in 1985. North Harbour had drawn 20-20 with Waikato the previous Saturday and beaten a powerful Otago 24-21 midweek.

North Harbour thus arrived at Athletic Park to play a wounded Lions side in this penultimate round fixture. North Harbour was sitting in second spot and thus playing to cement a home semi-final and the Lions had to win this and also beat Canterbury in their last match to make the playoffs for the first time.

With seven All Blacks and a New Zealand Maori and a Samoan international, it was fair to say that North Harbour was favoured to win this one.

Playing with a moderate wind, Wellington were on top throughout most of the first half, scoring tries in the 6^th and the 21^st minutes to first five-eighth Simon Mannix and lock Chris Tregaskis respectively. Captain and halfback Jon Preston added two conversions and a penalty to give Wellington a 17-3 halftime lead.

Any hopes North Harbour had of using the breeze to their advantage in the second half were dashed as second five-eighth Marty Berry ran through to score another try early in the half. Prop Mike Edwards and No. 8 Filo Tiatia added further tries in the last 10 minutes to complete an emphatic win.

Two matches the following week transpired to shut the Lions out of the 1993 semi-finals. The first was their own 12-15 loss to Canterbury and the second was Waikato's 17-6 win over Auckland to lift the Ranfurly Shield.

The next four matches between Wellington and North Harbour went the way of the home team, North Harbour winning at home 43-17 in 1994 and 36-14 in 1996 and Wellington winning at Athletic Park 26-17 in 1995 and 35-17 in 1997. The Lions finished sixth, seventh, fifth and sixth in each of these years.

Wellington again failed to get out of the round-robin in 1998, finishing sixth, before finally breaking their playoff duck in 1999, the last year they played at Athletic Park.

Things weren't exactly rosy when they hosted North Harbour in their first home fixture in 1999, having been thrashed by Auckland 6-45 in their season opener under lights at Eden Park. Wellington also had injuries out wide and up front, meaning a debut for English prop Kevin Yates and the return from a stint in Japan of Norm Broughton at second five-eighth.

In contrast, North Harbour had battled to an 18-18 draw with Ranfurly Shield holders and title favourites Waikato. Their pack for this clash included long-serving All Blacks lock Ian Jones and hard hitting youngsters Ron Cribb and Troy Flavell. Veteran international second five-eighth Walter Little led a classy backline that included All Blacks Mark Robinson, Frano Botica, Glen Osborne and Eric Rush, plus Karl Te Nana who had scored 10 tries for Wellington in 1997.

Just like in 1993, Wellington defied pre-match predictions and won the match comfortably - only not on the scoreboard. Indeed, it was the one that almost got away after a dominant first half, but in the end they held on to win 21-20.

Jim Kayes in the Dominion the next morning concurred. "Wellington could have won by 25 points had they not failed to finish off at least four potential tries in the opening 40 minutes.

"Flanker Inoke Afeaki and wing Ali Koko were tackled in the corner, while No. 8 Filo Tiatia lost the ball over the line and was later held up in goal," Kayes added.

Wellington went into halftime leading 9-3. North Harbour then came out and took the lead through a converted try to prop Tony Coughlan. But Wellington struck back with the try of the match through Broughton who crossed from a blindside move off an attacking scrum. First five-eighth David Holwell converted for a 16-10 lead.

It was then hand in mouth stuff for the Lions faithful after flyhalf Botica kicked a penalty and hooker Slade McFarland crossed in corner and Botica converted for the visitors. But the Lions held on and the 10,000 fans trudged away happy.

The Lions went on to win all their home games in their last season at Athletic Park in 1999 and finally reached the playoffs. They beat Waikato 38-17 in the semi-final in Hamilton and then lost to winners Auckland 18-24 in the final back up at Eden Park.

References:

The Dominion and Evening Post newspapers September 1993 and August 1999

Winds of Change - Wellington's Rugby History 1979-2004. Hutcheson Bowman & Stewart, Wellington 2004

Donoghue, Tim. Athletic Park : a lost football ground Tim Donoghue Publications in association with the Wellington Rugby Football Union, 1999.