League:Under 15s grind out win in Palmerston North

The Under-15s were the only Northland team to carve out a win in Palmerston North in the third round of the Rugby League National Championship.

Playing in terrible conditions at Fitzherbert Park, the U15s did it tough against the Central Vipers, but they hung in there for their first victory of the season.

"We had to defend four sets on our line, with puddles of water everywhere, in the last two or three minutes of the game," half Michael Larkin explained.

The two teams were locked together at six-all at half-time with Rhys Hawker scoring a try and kicking a conversion for the visitors.

The Swords scored two more tries - to Hauraki Brown and Tiaki Smith - as the conditions worsened in the third quarter before the Vipers came back with a try of their own to set up the frantic finale.

"It was our first win in the competition this season so we were over the moon when the whistle finally went," Larkin said.

The other results didn't go the Swords' way, with the U17s going down 12-16 in a tight one.

The U17s coaching staff weren't looking forward to the game with many of their players coming off a week at the national secondary schools competition.

Playing in torrential rain, the home side adapted better to the shocking second half conditions to grind out a win.

"I've never seen a game played in those conditions before - I had to send my reserves off to the showers because I didn't want them getting hypothermia," coach Benson Selwyn said.

The premier side went down 36-8 to a good Vipers side, but the young Swords side showed signs of improvement during the game.

In the other match on Sunday in the Pirtek National Premiership, the South Island Scorpions went down 18-24 at home to the Akarana Falcons.

In the U17s, Counties Manukau Stingrays drew 24-all with the Wellington Orcas, while the Akarana Falcons beat the South Island Scorpions 26-14.

In the U15s, Counties Manukau beat Wellington 24-16, while Auckland just edged the South Island 18-16.