Racing
League
Rugby
Football
Cricket
Golf
Sport Nation
Motorsport
Netball
Basketball
Combat Sports
Olympics
Other Sports
'Build it, not buy it': North Harbour’s long-awaited rise to the top
Sport Nation • September 29th, 2026 1:28 pm
North Harbour run out onto the field before playing Otago | Photo: Brett Phibbs/Photosport
North Harbour’s climb to the top of the NPC table has been years in the making, after finishing dead last in 2025.
Last week's win over Otago, combined with Northland’s loss to Counties, lifted Harbour into first place with just one regular season round remaining.
North Harbour chief executive Adrian Donald said the turnaround reflected a philosophy the union has been committed to.
“It's a philosophy that we bought into four years ago, part of when I came to the helm was for a long period of time shopped around and bought players into the union,” he told Sport Nation’s Scotty & Izzy.
“We have a saying within the union, we'll build it, not buy it, and as a result of that, our pathway system is really going from strength to strength as well.”
Harbour celebrate a try by Israel Leota during the NPC's 'Battle of the Bridge' | Photo: David Rowland/Photosport
Donald said the focus had been on giving players a strong connection to the union and its rugby community to which has “definitely paid dividends."
“I don't think you really got the same connection when you're coming from your own union and playing with mates around you in a club environment, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be from the North Shore, but you need to be playing your rugby here, you need to buy into our philosophy of being a shore person.”
The pathway is already producing players who are making the most of their opportunities.
“Last year we had 18 guys that came through and took their opportunity, a couple of those guys came across the bridge because their pathway was blocked at Auckland and now they've seen the opportunity and they're flourishing, which is awesome.
“Our under-20s campaign, being led by Steve Jackson has been awesome. Everyone knows that they get an opportunity if they come here and play here.
“We had five of our front-line starting players, five super rugby contracted players for next year that were unavailable through injury and selection last weekend, and we just had a next man up mentality.”
16-year-old Bella Narbey's FPC debut | Sport Nation Afternoons
That mentality was shown last week when players suffered injuries and young club players stepped in.
“We lose our skipper Bryn Hall in the warm-up, next man-up Sam Wye steps in, a young guy out of the club system, Tama (Tuala) steps in on the bench and Bryn's sitting makes him in the tunnel, in the dugout, giving him all the calls and telling him what's going to happen when he gets out there.
“That's awesome and that's the mentality and the whole team is working on that, it's great to see.”
The growing connection between the team and its supporters is another sign of how far the union has come, Donald said.
“It wasn't that long ago that it was pretty hard to sell a ticket and now our level 1 lounge is sold out all the time and old stalwarts are ringing you up and asking you, ‘I can't get a ticket, can you get me a ticket? What can you do?’ So that's kind of nice.
“The other thing is hearing that Harbour chant coming out from the stands is pretty cool when the boys are getting a little bit of momentum which is great because it's been a long time between drinks.”
Listen to the full interview below:
