Southland vs North Harbour Predictions - North Harbour to win big in quest for quarter-final

I am going with the latter and backing the visitors to cover the -13 handicap.

These two last met in 2022, a match North Harbour won 66-8 away from home. North Harbour have, in fact, won five of their last six against Southland.

Southland are second from bottom on the NPC table with just two wins from nine matches. That doesn’t tell the full story though as the perennial bottom feeders have actually performed admirably this season.

A number of games have been quite close in defeat, so Southland will end their season this weekend with their heads held high. Over the last four matches, they have been competitive in each.

Southland lost by 12 points to Canterbury, by five points to Manawatu, by eight points against Auckland and last week were beaten by 24 points at home to Waikato.

This is the final day of the season and Southland have nothing to play for. However, the season has been a success and certainly better than some previous years. I expect them to field a strong side.

North Harbour come into this final round fixture in ninth place on 23 points with three wins and six defeats. They are just one place below the playoffs and victory will give them a chance of qualification, depending on what happens elsewhere.

The goal this weekend for North Harbour will not simply just be to win, they will want a bonus point win as that gives them a better chance of qualification. In reality, it should not have come down to this for Harbour but they have squandered a few games this year they should have won.

After thrashing Manawatu 58-19 in mid-September, North Harbour lost 47-24 at Northland, a game they certainly would have fancied winning. They then lost that midweek to Taranaki by just six points.

Last week, they returned to winning ways in superb fashion, thrashing Canterbury 65-19 on home soil. Ultimately, it comes down to North Harbour resting players against Northland a couple of weeks ago in a game they needed to win.

With this being a must-win, North Harbour will be at full strength. I expect an unchanged side from last week unless there are late injuries.