Mid-Canterbury maintained their perfect record in the third division after scraping past Buller 9-3.
Buller could have won their tryless encounter in Westport but for missing three shots at goal from virtually within the shadows of the post.
It was a stop-start affair, punctuated by 33 penalties.By halftime, three penalties to John
Ellis and one to Sam Nelson for Buller saw Mid-Canterbury lead 9-3.
Mid-Canterbury now have four wins from as many matches.
Wairarapa-Bush are second despite drawing 11-all with South Canterbury in Timaru.
South Canterbury dominated field position and possession for long periods but found themselves behind 8-3 at halftime.
With 10 minutes to play, they were 11-3 down and looking at three successive defeats.
But South Canterbury found their most urgent form of the season to first get in range to kick a simple penalty and then storm back into attack to score a try in the last minute.
Mark Tutton's attempted conversion struck the upright and bounced away, leaving the teams to share the points.
Poverty Bay are still in the top four despite their 18-25 loss to King Country at Te Kuiti.
King Country fought off a fiery second half from Poverty Bay for their second win of the competition.
After trailing 0-17 at halftime, Poverty Bay rallied, winning the second half 18-8.
But it was too late.
King Country scored four tries, with centre Andrew Leatuafi bagging a double, to take the maximum five points.
Horowhenua-Kapiti recorded their first win after downing West Coast 48-15 at Waikanae.
The match turned into a benefit afternoon for Horowhenua-Kapiti captain Craig Tansley, who scored four tries.
The openside flanker has now scored seven tries in three games and has touched down in every match he has played this season.
- NZPA
NPC fixtures, results and standings
Division One | Division Two | Division Three
