Late penalty-try powers Tasman to win against North Harbour

Tasman remain unbeaten in the Mitre 10 Cup, just. 

Referee Richard Kelly awarded the hosts a late penalty try in their come-from-behind 21-17 win against North Harbour at Nelson's Trafalgar Park on Sunday. 

Before the hosts hit the front for the first time with three minutes to play, it appeared as if unbeaten Tasman were indeed mortal.

However, after Harbour dragged down a lineout drive over the line, their 17-7 halftime lead had evaporated, as had their hopes of snaring the upset of the Mitre 10 Cup season.

It certainly would have been tough for former Tasman coach Kieran Keane, who now runs the North Harbour ship, to swallow. 

This wasn't the type of performance fans of the competition have come to expect from the high-flying Mako this season. 

Their lineout was a shambles - hooker Sam Moli delivered three wonky darts in the first half alone - North Harbour's beefy pack repeatedly bent their scrum in half, and Kelly had a field day penalising their ill-discipline. 

That included a penalty-try, and a yellow card infringement by centre Levi Aumua, who was sent packing for 10 minutes late in the first half for deliberately knocking down a Bryn Hall pass. 

Kelly whistled more than a dozen penalties against the hosts, 10 of them in the first half, as they spent the majority of it defending deep inside their half. 

Many of the penalties were at the scrum, as Harbour's front row of Karl Tu'inukuafe, James Parsons and Sione Mafileo made mincemeat of Tasman. 

When the hosts were shunted towards their own line for a fourth time within the space of five or so minutes, Kelly had seen enough, awarding the visitors a well-deserved penalty try. 

The 30th minute try followed James Parsons' seventh-minute try from a driving maul, while first-five eighth Matt McGahan landed a penalty goal shortly before the half to give his side a surprise 17-7 lead at the split. 

However, after defending so stoutly after conceding a soft try to Tasman halfback Finlay Christie early in the first half, cracks started appearing in North Harbour's defence after the break. 

Tasman, having finally strung some phases together, added to their tally in the 57th minute, when impressive flanker Sione Havili powered over.

Suddenly the Mako started playing with confidence, busting tackles and dominating the possession and territory stakes. 

Harbour tackled themselves to a standstill, twice rebuffing raids of 15 phases inside their own half, and it looked like it might be their day when Jordan Taufua coughed the ball up attempting to ground it late in the piece.

That was until Tasman turned down a shot at goal and kicked to the corner, trusting their shaky lineout to setup the decisive rolling maul. 

Tasman 21 (Finlay Christie, Sione Havili tries, penalty try; Tim O'Malley 2 con) North Harbour 17 (James Parsons try, penalty try; Matt McGahan con, pen). HT: 7-17