Auckland deny Stags the shield

Killer blow: David Smith crosses over for Auckland's one and only try

Auckland held on to the Ranfurly Shield by the skin of their teeth after seeing off Southland 13-9 in a largely uninspiring Air New Zealand Cup encounter.

The holders had to defend their line for over 20 phases, well past the 80-minute mark, and won because of their defence which was excellent to the end.

Auckland played minimalist rugby, making less errors, showing a conservative bent which made Southland take all the risks.

The Stags came armed with resolve, but lacked enough attacking variety or the edge needed to lift the Shield.

The scores were locked at 6-6 with a quarter of the match remaining, before Auckland winger David Smith crossed against the run of play in a second half which Southland largely dominated.

Blair Stewart kicked his third penalty for Southland with two minutes left on the clock, but the visitors could not quite clinch it at the death.

In fact, the game's scoring was mainly a battle of the boots between first fly-halves Lachie Munro and Stewart.

Munro had Auckland in front with a penalty in the twelfth minute, Stewart responded 10 minutes later but Munro established a 6-3 lead for his team just before the break.

Stewart levelled the scores with his second penalty in the 48th minute following a no-arms tackle by Jamie Helleur which saw the Auckland full-back sin-binned.

The match was arguably won over the next 10 minutes as the fourteen-man hosts defended stoutly, with their line threatened on several occasions.

As soon as Helleur returned to the field it seemed to act as a spur for the game's only try through Smith - making his first appearance of the competition after recovering from injury.

A charge down by flanker Daniel Braid on at attempted Stewart clearance gave Auckland momentum and the ball was shifted left to Smith, who shrugged through a half tackle.

Munro, who kicked three from three shots at goal, landed the conversion.

The wind seemed to go out of Southland's sails when Stewart missed a penalty shot, not long after replacement scrum-half Scott Cowan was deemed to have knocked on when trying to ground the ball over the try-line.

It initially looked as though Cowan may have squared the ledger for the visitors, when he squeezed through a gap off a short scrum, but the TMO denied him in a close decision that would not have been popular down south.

Stewart slotted his third penalty with 90 seconds remaining to give them a chance of victory and spark a dramatic final passage.

While the visitors went close it was all too little, too late and Southland will look back at the game as a match of lost opportunities - mainly of their own making.

The scorers:

For Auckland:

Try: Smith

Con: Munro

Pen: Munro 2

For Southland:

Pens: Stewart 3

Auckland: 15 Jamie Helleur, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Ben Atiga (c), 12 Benson Stanley, 11 David Smith, 10 Lachie Munro, 9 Taniela Moa; 8 Peter Saili, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Kurtis Haiu, 5 Jay Williams, 4 Chris Lowrey, 3 Nick White, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Paea Fa'anunu.

Replacements: 16 Pauliasi Manu, 17 Charlie Faumuina, 18 Dean Budd, 19 Onosa'i Auva'a, 20 Grayson Hart, 21 Winston Stanley, 22 Watisoni Lotawa.

Southland: 15 Mark Wells, 14 Matt Saunders, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Jason Kawau, 11 Pehi Te Whare, 10 Blair Stewart, 9 Dane Shelford; 8 Hua Tamariki, 7 Tim Boys, 6 Dion Bates, 5 Hoani MacDonald, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Chris King, 2 David Hall, 1 Jamie Mackintosh (c).

Replacements: 16 Jason Rutledge, 17 Fai Mika, 18 Daniel Ramsay, 19 Matt Holloway, 20 Scott Cowan, 21 Willie Rickards, 22 Robbie Robinson.

Referee: Kelvin Deaker

Touch judges: Steve Walsh, Chris Pollock

TMO: Brent Murray