Thrush steals it and Shields crashes it up

Parsons to feed another Harbour lineout

They go wide from the scrum but run out of room

Wellington got a hand on it but it went forward, scrum to Harbour

Wellington clear, lineout to Harbour near halfway

Daniel Halangahu gets the match underway

Both teams are on the park and kick-off is a few minutes away

Wellington is not in the Premiership this year. Manawatu is.

Round 2 of the ITM Cup gets underway with the clash between North Harbour and the Wellington Lions at QBE Stadium in Albany.
North Harbour suffered a 20-11 away defeat to Bay of Plenty in week 1 and will be looking to bounce back in front of their home crowd.
On the other hand, Wellington got their ITM Cup campaign off to the perfect start, defeating last season’s Premiership champions, Taranaki, by 19 points to 14 in New Plymouth.
With the likes of Cory Jane, Jeremy Thrush, Brad Shields and Ardie Savea in the Wellington line-up, it looks like an uphill battle for the home side.
However, it is interesting to note that at home at QBE Stadium, North Harbour has played Wellington 12 times, winning 7 of them.