They led for 15 minutes and were within a converted try deep in the second half but Southland again fell short of breaking a three-year win drought as North Harbour won 33-12 in Invercargill.
That early lead for the Stags was provided by the brilliant play of Marty Mckenzie who broke through Harbour’s defence with a show-and-go, found a support runner and then stayed in support to get the return pass before scoring.
That would be McKenzie’s major influence on the match with the Stags star replaced after 23 minutes with a chest injury.
Moments after he was replaced, Harbour levelled the scores with a well-worked scrum move that put James Little over under the posts.
The scores would remain level until the break but not long after with Asaeli Tikoirotuma finishing off a superb Harbour move just two minutes into the second half.
The men from over the bridge wouldn’t have to wait long for their third with an intercept sparking a 100m counter-attack that ended with Bryn Hall scoring.
Harbour would lose a man to the bin before a Scott Eade try would pull the Stags back within a converted try.
That would be as close as they would get though as tries to Harrison Groundwater and Matt Duffie securing the 21-point win.
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