KEY POINTS:
Tasman won the dance of the doomed 31-10 in Whangarei today as Northland's Air NZ Cup rugby stocks continued to plummet.
Northland were outplayed up front at Okara Park and suffered their fifth consecutive loss in a season of woe while Tasman turned around heavy losses to Hawke's Bay and Canterbury over the past two weeks.
Both teams are to be demoted from the competition next year unless objections from both provinces to be heard by the New Zealand Rugby Union this month are successful.
Northland did little to help their cause with a poor performance in front of a small home crowd, as they struggled to establish a base for their exciting outside backs.
Tasman led 14-10 at halftime but were dominant in the second spell, scoring two more unanswered tries to give them a bonus point. Winger Blair Cook scored two of their four tries.
They are still strong playoffs prospects but Northland appear destined for a finish near the bottom.
Tasman dominated the makeshift Northland scrum, featuring a front row weakened by injuries and suspension, and produced a more complete team performance.
Northland made their share of breaks through outside backs Rene Ranger, Fetu'u Vainikolo and Jared Payne but couldn't capitalise.
Tasman were up 14-3 inside 25 minutes courtesy of tries to Cook and prop Ben May, either side of a penalty to Northland first five-eighth David Holwell.
It was Holwell who allowed the visitors to sneak clear, missing an early penalty attempt before throwing a loopy pass in the eighth minute which was intercepted by Cook, who stormed 75m.
The first sign that Northland were in for a hard night came when they couldn't take advantage of a Tasman side reduced to 14 men when halfback Kahn Fotuali'i was sinbinned for a high tackle on Ranger midway through the first spell.
In fact May crossed for his try while his side were still a man down.
Northland were back in the contest 2min from halftime when fullback Payne burrowed between two forwards for a try after a patient buildup.
They barely looked like scoring after the break and conceded straight forward tries to Cook and Fotuali'i while Tasman first five-eighth Miah Nikora kicked a penalty to give him five-from-five successful goalkicks.
Tasman 31 (Blair Cook 2, Ben May, Kahn Fotuali'i tries; Miah Nikora pen, 4 con) Northland 10 (Jared Payne try; David Holwell pen, con). Halftime: 14-10.
- NZPA
