Mitre10 Highlights: Manawatu v Southland (Round 2)

In a tale of two halves, Manawatu edged Southland 34-31 in round 2 of the Mitre 10 Cup. The first half was a one sided affair as Manawatu ran in three tries to take a commanding 24-0 lead into the break. Southland hit back with two tries inside the opening 5 minutes of the second half to get back into the match, but Manawatu responded making it 31-14 with about half an hour to play. 5 minutes later and Southland were in again and a penalty with 18 minutes remaining made it a seven point ball game. Southland crossed in the corner with just two minutes left on the clock with the successful conversion leveling things up at 31 all. Manawatu managed to get their hands on the ball and Southland infringed allowing Black to slot the winning penalty after the siren to sneak the win.