Mitre 10 Cup HIGHLIGHTS: Taranaki v Auckland

A pulsating 83 minutes of rugby comes to an end with Auckland taking the spoils winning 30-31. The lead exchanged hands four times in the first half of action with Johnathan Ruru scoring a late try to give Auckland a 13-19 lead into the break. Tom Florence put the home side back in front after the break before Salesi Rayasi scored a brace of tries to give Auckland an 11-point lead. Melani Nanai was yellow carded in the final 10 minutes of the game before Mitchell Croswell went over the line to give Taranaki a sniff at the win. Harry Plummer missed a long-range penalty with three minutes left to play and Taranaki capitalised going from their own 22 to score a sensational try. Stephen Perofeta had the conversion to win the match and missed it but had a second crack at the conversion after an early charge by Auckland. Unfortunately for the Blues first five he missed again as Auckland held on to win the match 30-31.