Victory for Northland, but Southland take bonus point

NORTHLAND 27 SOUTHLAND 20

Bay of Plenty's worst fears turned into reality after nearly 24 nailbiting hours when Northland and Southland performed their own rugby great escapes today.

Inspired once more by their Fijian speedsters, Northland leapt from the bottom of the NPC first division table to safety with a 27-20 win over Southland in Invercargill.

Jubilant arms were raised on both sides at the final whistle, though, after Southland halfback Jimmy Cowan scored in injury time to give the Stags the bonus point they needed.

It all added up to another fortnight of training for BOP and a further match for retiring captain Mark Weedon as they face either Hawke's Bay or Counties-Manukau in the promotion-relegation clash two weeks from tomorrow.

At the other end of the table, Waikato sealed top spot with a 33-21 win over a plucky BOP in Rotorua yesterday and will host fourth-placed Otago in one semifinal next weekend.

Canterbury came from behind to beat Otago 16-13 last night to lock up the Ranfurly Shield for another summer, and will host arch-rivals Auckland next weekend in the other semi.

Auckland tuned up impressively on Friday night to end Wellington's playoff bid with a 47-27 demolition in Wellington.

But the tension was in the deep south today with both teams on edge in front of a capacity crowd.

Northland handled the pressure better and raced to a 17-3 lead with a double from flyer Rupeni Caucaunibuca and another try from fellow wing Fero Lasagavibau.

The visitors led 20-8 at halftime after facing into the elements for the first spell, then extended the lead to 27-8 after blindside flanker Brent Dale's try from a chargedown.

Southland No 8 Paul Miller gave the home fans some hope with a try 10 minutes later, but Southland looked gone when replacement Norman Ligairi was sinbinned by referee Steve Walsh for a high tackle with seven minutes left.

They bombarded the Northland line, though, in the dying minutes and Cowan slipped through close to the posts.

BOP wing Jason Tiatia will have a while to rue his fumble which cost the home side two vital bonus points in Rotorua yesterday.

In the dying seconds, trailing 21-33, Tiatia couldn't hold the greasy ball after a clever cross-field kick, leaving Waikato with a 12-point buffer.

Waikato needed just a bonus point from the game to finish first but got the lot, kicking on from a 19-14 halftime lead to score four tries in total.

Stand-in skipper and midfield back Mark Ranby capped off a superb game, particularly on defence, with a hat-trick of tries, including two in the first half.

Desperate for the fourth try, Bay of Plenty poured on the pressure in the final 15 minutes, camping inside Waikato's 22, but were denied by robust defence and handling errors.

Halfback Justin Marshall was the hero for Canterbury as they took more than an hour to break down Otago's robust defence in the wet at Jade Stadium.

"We've had tough battles with them in the past, but we've managed to get the edge and that would be, I suggest, sitting in the back of their minds," Marshall said.

Otago's defence was magnificent as they contained the best attack in New Zealand rugby, which had scored 15 tries in their last two outings.

Otago led 7-6 at halftime after a Seilala Mapusua try and extended it to 13-6 before Canterbury launched their comeback.

Marshall's try came in the 65th minute when he dotted down under the crossbar after nine consecutive phases, then Andrew Mehrtens added the conversion and a simple penalty.

On Friday, a five-try second half blitz saw Auckland roll impressively into the semifinals and silenced the big WestpacTrust Stadium crowd.

The visitors dominated possession for much of the game, winning 47-27 after another fine all-round display from first five-eighth Carlos Spencer.

Wellington were comprehensively outplayed, even though they claimed a 15-13 halftime lead thanks to early tries from Jason Spice and Christian Cullen.

In the meaningless match in New Plymouth yesterday, Taranaki held off a late charge by North Harbour to win 24-19 and seal sixth place.

The home side trailed 3-14 at halftime but scored three second-half tries and held off a series of late North Harbour charges.

- NZPA