Northland 30 Bay of Plenty 23
Northland scored the boilover of the provincial rugby season when they crushed high-flying Bay of Plenty in Whangarei last night.
Bay of Plenty, who still lead the top division of the ITM Cup and were unbeaten going into the game, started the match at Toll Stadium without a stack of their leading lights and were made to pay by second tier Northland.
Northland, without leading backs Jared Payne and Rene Ranger, received a mighty home crowd roar as they completed the victory.
Fullback Lachie Munro was in the thick of the victory, landing six out of seven goals, figuring in the attacks and pulling off superb tackles.