North Harbour are off the mark in the National Provincial Championship after a dour 14-6 win over Counties-Manukau in Pukekohe.
Less than a week after a disappointing loss to Waikato, Harbour's first-five Bryn Gatland kicked three penalty goals and added a second-half try assist to guide his side to victory.
The first half was ridden with errors from both sides on a fairly dry track, with several try-scoring opportunities squandered.
Gatland kicked goals in the sixth, 24th and 37th minute to give Harbour a 9-0 lead at the break, but Counties-Manukau were a much better side in the second spell.
Jarred Halliday reduced the gap to six points in the 44th minute, but missed another two minutes later in 20 minutes of total domination from the Steelers.
Harbour were lucky not to lose a player to the sin bin, with six straight penalties awarded whole defending their own line.
Counties failed to capitalise on their momentum taking just another Halliday penalty into the final 10 minutes with the game poised at 9-6.
The key moment came moments later when Gatland combined with Moses Leo to set Shaun Stevenson free on the right-hand side with the Harbour fullback beating the cover to score the games only try.
Harbour pushed for another but were happy to kick the ball out of play when time ran down.
It means back-to-back defeats for Counties, who lost to Manawatu in week one.
North Harbour 14 (Stevenson try, Gatland 3xpen) bt
Counties-Manukau 6 (Halliday 2xpen)
HT: 9-0