Southland 29
Taranaki 13
Bay of Plenty 28
Manawatu 27
Southland will be in the top four when the penultimate round finishes this weekend, their semifinal hopes very much intact.
They will sit second behind Canterbury, before today's games start, courtesy of an impressive win over Taranaki in Invercargill last night.
Centre Kenny Lynn, who ran impressively all night, got the decisive try, capitalising on woeful Taranaki defence to run on to a bouncing ball to score between the posts 17 minutes from the end.
That gave Southland a 13-point cushion, they had turned on a strong second half and were rarely troubled from that point.
Southland will have parked themselves in the changing room at halftime wondering how they didn't have the match wrapped up. They had 68 per cent possession, 62 per cent territory and were all over Taranaki for much of the spell.
Openings were created but they couldn't put Taranaki away. The result was that two sweetly-struck Willie Ripia penalties in the final minutes of the spell had pulled Taranaki level.
First five-eighths Robbie Robinson's third penalty of the half just before the end was required for Southland to be ahead on the board.
Their only try of the half was an outstanding team collaboration. Robinson started the move, Lynn was involved twice, fullback Glen Horton did his bit before big lock Joe Tuineau bounded up to charge to the line.
The Southland backs were cutting capers only to have things go awry at the wrong moment.
Taranaki got moving late in the half, but their only try had come from good work by tidy second five-eighths Jayden Hayward, setting up wing Shayne Austin on a cleverly-angled run to the line.
Southland 29 (J. Tuineau, K. Lynn tries; R. Robinson 4 pen, 2 con, John Dodds pen)
Taranaki 13 (S. Austin try; W. Ripia 2 pen, con). HT: 16-3
* * *
There was nothing on it but someone forgot to tell Bay of Plenty and Manawatu last night.
The two sides, out of semifinals contention in the Air NZ Cup, fought out a close encounter where neither managed to gain total dominance.
Bay of Plenty are likely to be just outside the top four when next weekend's final round ends.
Manawatu refused to lie down as both sides traded attack and counter-attack.
BoP led 28-17 with 20 minutes to go but Manawatu came back strongly to get within a point of the Bay.
Bay of Plenty 28 (Luke Braid, Phil Burleigh, Jason Hona, tries; Mike Delaney 3 pen, 2 con)
Manawatu 27 (Reece Robinson, Brent Thompson, Sean O'Connor tries; Isaac Thompson 2 pen, 3 con). HT: 13-10.
