Northland had more to play for and it showed when they beat the Hawke's Bay Magpies 34-7 in their ninth round Mitre 10 Cup Championship rugby match in Whangarei tonight.
The Taniwha started the match in fifth place on the points table but with their bonus point for four tries lept to second place to keep their semifinal hopes alive with one round remaining. The Magpies failed to replicate the improvement displayed in the previous week's 33-30 loss to North Harbour and are now one win and eight losses for the season.
Magpies captain Ash Dixon agreed his troops defence was poor again and they let Northland get away with too much close to the ruck area.
"They had the ball for a lot of the time because we didn't have enough dominant tackles," Dixon said.
The Magpies made a good start and retained possession for eight phases during an early passage of play. However a soft turnover and clever work from former All Black Rene Ranger, playing at centre for the hosts, led to a try to Northland flanker Dan Pryor in the fourth minute. First five-eighth Peter Breen added the conversion and his side led 7-0.