Rugby: Auckland extend Eden Park winning record

Jason Rutledge of Southland is tackled by Steven Luatua of Auckland. Photo / Getty Images

Auckland 39 Southland 26

Auckland extended their 70-year winning streak over Southland at Eden Park with a 39-26 win in tonight's national provincial championship rugby match in Auckland.

Ahead 15-12 at halftime, Auckland dominated the second 40 minutes with some solid defence, excellent work at the set piece and a pacey back enough to hold off a late Southland revival in the closing 10 minutes.

The match started promisingly for Auckland, as they came out ahead in a scrappy opening 10 minutes where both sides were guilty of regular turnovers as they struggled to build continuity.

Quick work at the breakdown saw captain Tom McCartney make the initial break, then Auckland moved the ball wide for centre Hadleigh Parkes to dot down in the corner.

Southland took barely two minutes to reply through fullback Glen Horton out wide, then young first five-eighth Scott Eade sold an outrageous dummy to slice through the Auckland defence and score Southland's second.

Trailing 5-12 after 20 minutes, Auckland evened the scores with 10 minutes remaining in the first half after some indifferent Southland defence saw Parkes through with time to move the ball wide.

Some innovative work by second five-eighth Teddy Stanaway in flicking the ball on in a tryline scramble found No 8 Chris Lowrey in perfect position to touch down.

A 35th-minute Gareth Anscombe penalty gave Auckland a narrow 15-12 lead at the break, which extended with another three-pointer 12 minutes after the restart.

Two minutes later, former All Blacks winger Joe Rokocoko latched onto a loose ball at the breakdown, caught the Southland defence napping and rocketed away for the easiest of tries.

Anscombe converted, then soon after ran wide off the back of an excellent Auckland scrum, fending off replacement halfback Scott Cowan on the way to the tryline.

The conversion saw Auckland out to a 32-12 lead after 60 minutes, although Southland replied through second five-eighth James Wilson with 10 minutes remaining to narrow the lead to 32-19.

Three minutes later, Southland battled back to threaten an unlikely win with a bonus-point try to flanker Tim Boys out wide to leave Auckland suddenly vulnerable with a 32-26 lead and five minutes until the final whistle.

However, Auckland's injury-hit forward pack fronted up, and replacement prop Pauliasi Manu wrestled over with two minutes to go to put the result beyond doubt.

- NZPA