Auckland 37
Counties-Manukau 14
They still need other results to go their way but Auckland will likely head to Hamilton on Saturday night knowing a victory will book a place in the national championship semifinals.
That would be quite a turnaround for a team that was thumped 47-13 by Hawkes Bay in its first
outing of the season, and also contrived to lose to Tasman and North Harbour.
For sixth-placed Auckland to get their shot at leapfrogging into the semis, Wellington, Southland or Hawkes Bay must lose their final round matches. With Wellington and Hawkes Bay likely to be too good for Tasman and Northland respectively, Auckland's future will probably swing on Canterbury's attempt to defend the Ranfurly Shield against Southland on Thursday night.
The wildcard is the absence of players named in yesterday's All Blacks' squad, with Canterbury particularly hard hit.
Auckland have done all they can to stay alive, winning their last three games, including yesterday's bonus point effort over Counties Manukau.
"Now we know it is all in front of us - the winners should get through," Auckland coach Mark Anscombe said.
"We've got to make sure we go down there and be the winner."
Anscombe's troops will make the trip without two senior hands whose efforts were pivotal yesterday, with Jerome Kaino and John Afoa turning their attention to the All Blacks. Auckland, though, will have discarded wing Joe Rokocoko, whose dropping, combined with injuries to Keven Mealamu and Isaia Toeava, means the union contributed just two of the 33 touring All Blacks.
Anscombe was hard pressed not to agree that that was an indictment of the state of the union. "I suppose you could say that. But the fact is we have had 11 young guys play their first game for Auckland this year and I think a couple of them are starting to show what they are all about.
"The systems are changing and we looking at things we are doing in the union to make sure we get back to the days of having the eights and nines back in the All Blacks squad."
Waikato will be harder hit for Saturday's showdown, with captain Liam Messam, halfback Brendon Leonard and first five-eighths Stephen Donald joining Mils Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu in the touring party.
Anscombe will likely fancy his team's chances after they turned in a composed second half display to see off the Steelers. Playing with a strong wind, the Aucklanders could muster just a 10-7 lead at the break, with fullback Paul Williams scoring their only try after just six minutes.
Impressive fullback Tim Nanai-Williams scored a scintillating try in each half but that wasn't enough for a Steelers side that conceded early in each half. Resurgent flanker Onosa'i Auva'a scored Auckland's second after a scything break by Chris Lowrey, while Jerome Kaino and Peter Sa'ili added bullocking efforts to ensure the bonus point.
"There was certainly a sense that we hadn't used that wind enough in the first half and Counties were playing some good rugby, so we had to put our heads down and try to take them out of the game, which we eventually managed to do," Williams said.
Auckland would head to Hamilton full of confidence, Williams said. "Down there it is never easy, but we have everything to play for."
Bottom-placed Counties' season winds up with a trip to Dunedin to play Otago, a match that could be their last in the top flight if plans to trim the competition to 10 teams go ahead.
"We spoke about it at the start of the year that we would try to just control the things that we can control on the field and worry about what the fish heads [administrators] do later on," Steelers coach Milton Haig said.
* Race for the semis
1-Canterbury 46pts: v 3-Southland in Christchurch, Thursday.
2-Wellington 39: v 8-Tasman in Blenheim, Friday.
3-Southland 37: v 1-Canterbury in Christchurch, Thursday.
4-Waikato 36: v 6-Auckland Hamilton, Saturday.
5-Hawke's Bay 36: v 13-Northland in Whangarei, Friday.
6-Auckland 35: v 4-Waikato in Hamilton on Saturday.
