Shield retained, bonus point gained, but . . .

CANTERBURY 48 SOUTHLAND 27

Seven tries, five championship points and a 14th consecutive defence of the Ranfurly Shield were still not enough to please the Canterbury team.

They never looked like relinquishing their ironclad grip on the Log o' Wood against Southland at Jade Stadium, despite a spirited second-half comeback by their opponents.

But Southland gave Canterbury a wake-up call before Saturday's toughest test of the campaign - an away game against a revitalised Waikato.

Halfback Justin Marshall, who scored a superb try in his 50th match for Canterbury, said they had dropped too much possession.

"We won't get down on ourselves. We still topped 40, and got five points, and retained the shield, and that's the only thing we were looking for out of the match," he said.

"But it's just we have a lot of pride in our performance and obviously when things don't go as well as you like, you get a little disappointed."

Canterbury were safe and secure in the set pieces and scored some superb tries, particularly the sweeping effort which led to Marshall's effort in the 24th minute.

Loose forward Sam Broomhall set the attack in motion by bundling Southland halfback Jimmy Cowan into touch. From a quickly-taken lineout, flanker Richie McCaw made a break and dangerous wing Joe Maddock set off on a slashing run.

Marshall moved on to Maddock's deft pass at full pace and raced 40m to the line, quipping later: "It's not very often nowadays I manage to get that wound up."

Marshall's try followed an earlier touchdown by skipper and hooker Mark Hammett.

Wing Caleb Ralph scored the first of his two tries after 30 minutes, stooping low to grasp a Ben Blair pass after the ball was moved quickly along the backline.

Southland had started strongly, winning 71 per cent of the ball in the first 10 minutes without being able to assert any territorial dominance.

They looked well out of it as they trooped off at halftime, down 22-3.

But they came out firing afterwards.

Halfback Jimmy Cowan, a tough, abrasive player, and a committed loose forward trio led the way.

Ben Herring, Hale T-Pole and Iona Sipa outpointed the All Black trio of McCaw, Broomhall and Scott Robertson.

Herring scored four minutes after the break, but a try to Nathan Mauger, and a rather harsh penalty try awarded by referee Steve Walsh for an offside and early tackle on McCaw, pushed Canterbury out to a 34-8 lead.

T-Pole scored a try after a penalty, but Canterbury replied with a sparkling effort by Mehrtens, who showed pace to score after a break by Johnny Leo'o.

Ralph's second strike had Canterbury ahead, 48-13 with three minutes remaining.

Southland grabbed a bonus point by adding two tries, from Richard Newman and Herring, who raced 60m after an intercept to outpace the Canterbury defence.

- NZPA