Taranaki vs North Harbour Predictions - Hosts can cover handicap in NPC fixture

Taranaki beat North Harbour convincingly at home last season, however, Harbour won the three games prior to that.

Taranaki are placed fifth on the table after seven rounds of action. They have won five and lost two games thus far.

The defending champions will want to get a home quarter-final at the very least as a top two finish now looks out of the question with games running out.

Last week, Taranaki were in rampant form against Hawkes Bay, smashing them 63-19 away from home. It was a proper demolition job by Taranaki, and they will be looking to take that form forward.

This is a double game week for Taranaki. After thrashing Hawkes Bay last Friday, they will almost certainly make changes for this fixture as they play on Sunday again.

North Harbour are currently 10th on the table with just two wins from seven games. They are just a point off a top eight finish, but with only two games left to play, they need positive results.

The two wins for North Harbour came against Waikato at home in round five and then they won in round seven again. Last week they lost 47-24 at Northland.

Unfortunately, North Harbour have suffered numerous narrow defeats this season and how they will wish to have at least turned one of them around.

North Harbour have a day less to prepare for this game as they played on Saturday. Expect numerous changes as they will be targeting this coming weekend against Canterbury for the win.