North Shore pips Northcote for repeat berth in

The North Shore premier rugby side secured its third consecutive North Harbour final appearance with a 20-15 win over Northcote last Saturday, but it was a torrid battle.

The encounter produced real play-offs rugby: a bit nervy, an intense tussle between two determined forward packs, little expansive back play and plenty of kicking for territory.

Shore has now gone unbeaten in 13 games this season, but looked out of sorts early on against Northcote. Poor defence let in two softish tries to give Northcote a 12-0 lead after 12 minutes. Shore then rallied strongly and put together its best spell of the match.

Dominating the forward exchanges set the platform for centre Rory Taylor to score after 16 minutes, before lock James Fiebig went over by the posts at the 23-minute mark. Cam Howell converted both to give Shore a 14-12 lead.

The home side camped inside Northcote’s half and seemed about to run away with the match. A Shore scrum drove Northcote off the ball. But a lineout from an ensuing penalty was lost. It was typical of the small inaccuracies that cost Shore throughout the match – dropped passes, small knock-ons or a failure to secure possession causing many promising moves to falter.

The sides traded penalties to give Shore a 17-15 half-time lead. Another Howell penalty 13 minutes into the second half put Shore out to 20-15. The rest of the match was something of a dour struggle.

It was a match of small margins. Fiebig had one of his best games for North Shore. He was a dominating lineout jumper; his take against the throw when Northcote was on attack late in the game sealed the result for Shore. He also scored a try, made a couple

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