Watch: Green Island win a tense Premier League final

Green Island broke a 46-year title drought with a tense 21-15 victory over Dunedin in the club’s Division One final at Forsyth Barr Stadium this afternoon.

The Grizzlies repelled wave after wave of attacks in the final 10 to 15 minutes as the Sharks searched for a converted try.

Dunedin had dominated the territory for most of the game and had two golden opportunities to score in the fourth quarter.

Defender Joshua Augustine released the ball with the line wide open and substitute defender Benjamin Paku let the puck fly out of his grasp just a metre from the line. All he had to do was catch it and throw himself to the ground.

Green Island had some good luck there, but it also created its own luck.

They often attacked from their own 22 and scored some important tries.

Center Levi Harmon emerged as one of the heroes.

He fractured two bones in his lower leg two minutes into the 2021 final against Taieri and spent a year in a moon boot.

But there was nothing wrong with his leg as he weaved his way through two defenders to score midway through the first half.

And there was nothing wrong with that again as he cut, feinted and cut wide to leave three defenders in his wake and finish off a superb team try early in the second period.

A couple of accessories even got involved in the run-up to that event.

But Dunedin stayed in touch with an intercept try from Kyan Rangitutia, and fellow defender Tayne Harvey somehow fed a pass to hooker Liam Arthur-Hunt, who dived in the corner.

They desperately tried to catch a third, but couldn’t find a way through the Green Island wall.