Bold Auckland snatched the Ranfurly Shield and took top spot in the Air NZ Cup rugby competition with a 26-15 win over Canterbury in Christchurch tonight.
It was Canterbury's first defeat in the round-robin competition and they simply had no answer for Auckland's aggression with ball in handand in the rucks and mauls.
The victory means Auckland will host either Taranaki or North Harbour in one of the quarterfinals next Saturday. Taranaki will play winless Counties-Manukau tomorrow.
Canterbury will meet Otago in the other quarterfinal next Saturday, in Christchurch, while Wellington meet Southland (Friday) and Hawke's Bay will host Waikato (Sunday) in the other quarters.
Though fullback Brent Ward scored both of Auckland's tries, one in each half, it was their playmaker Isa Nacewa who was the star of their victory tonight.
Apart from kicking 16 points, he had the biggest influence in the way the Aucklanders maintained their unbeaten record before the Canterbury crowd.
Tossed all over the backline during the season but brought back into the pivotal role this week by coach Pat Lam, Nacewa gave Canterbury plenty of grief.
With a solid defence that kept both the Canterbury inside backs and loose forwards out at crucial times, his powerful attacking style was perhaps was what Fiji needed at the World Cup.
Nacewa played briefly for Fiji at a previous Cup tournament but had a fallout with the Fiji Rugby Union later and he has refused to play again for them.
When Canterbury had closed the gap to 10-13 with the last kick before halftime, Nacewa set up Ward's second try that put them clear at 20-10 just three minutes after the break.
Auckland had turned over the ball from Canterbury playmaker Stephen Brett and Nacewa powered through props Ben Franks and Campbell Johnstone to put Ward away for the try.
It was that type of game from Nacewa that gave Auckland the advantage over the shield holders.
Auckland do not have to put up the shield now and their victory tonight suggested the Air NZ Cup could be in their cabinet as well for the summer.
