Northern Regional, or Te Hiku o Te Ika teams, each of which include a strong contingent of Northland players, won two out of three of their rugby matches in Hamilton to remain in contention for the national title ahead of their final matches this week against the Southern Regional teams.
Northern
won the women's game 43-15 with hooker Annie Carter from Horahora having a strong game as the forwards dominated their rivals to set up the win.
Northern also won the colts game 23-10 with centre Whiria Meltzer from Awanui, halfback Kadin TeNana from Kawakawa and fullback Saxon Samuels from Mangakahia all having strong games.
The senior side narrowly failed to make a clean sweep of the contest.
They played the curtain-raiser to the Chiefs versus Crusaders game and lost in the final seconds of the game 15-14 when the Central team scored in the corner - and the kicker slotted a tough conversion - after leading for most of the game.
The Northern Regional teams play the South Island on Saturday in Christchurch, which will effectively be a finals day as Southern beat Central on March 6, in all three games.
