North Harbour 26
Southland 25
North Harbour are on the board, though it would be optimistic to say they are back on track in the Championship.
They engineered an extraordinary turnaround, capped when first five Daniel Halangahu slotted his sixth goal of the evening in the final seconds to steal a one-point victory in Invercargill.
It is the first time North Harbour have beaten the Stags since 2007 and their pack must take some of the plaudits, rolling up the sleeves in the second stanza and getting behind lock Hayden Triggs, who was playing his 100th game in this competition. Southland are not easy to topple in Invercargill, as coach Steve Jackson, a former Stags skipper, knows full well, and it pays not to spot them a 15-point halftime advantage. But despite more yeoman work by flanker Tim Boys, the Stags' discipline and nous let them down in the second spell.
Some solid lead-up work led to captain Bryn Hall flicking a nice pass to Michael Little for North Harbour's second try, and they had pulled to 22-20. They kept the pressure on Southland, and Halangahu kept kicking the goals.