Cream rising in Air NZ Cup

The cream is rising slowly but surely to the top as the pretenders for Air NZ Cup semifinals spots begin to feel the effects of battle fatigue.

With two rounds to go, defending champions Canterbury lead the standings comfortably with 42 points after beating Manawatu 50-26 this weekend.

The other top four slots, though, are still up for grabs.

Hawke's Bay, 54-8 winners over Counties Manukau, are second on 35 points, followed by Wellington, who beat Northland 41-7, third on 34 with Southland fourth on 33 after trouncing Tasman 41-0.

Hot on their heels are Waikato on 31, after beating Otago 35-29 and Auckland on 30 after squeaking past Taranaki 10-0.

Those facing an uphill battle now after defeats this weekend are Tasman, who have 28 points, Bay of Plenty with 26 and Taranaki on 24.

There were some impressive performances from the leading bunch this weekend.

Wellington, whose backline was humming with returning All Blacks, proved too powerful for Northland today and coach Jamie Joseph will be pleased he has two more rounds to get his team firing on all cylinders.

Conrad Smith, wing Hosea Gear and second five-eighth Tamati Ellison returned after a number of weeks on the injury list to play strong roles in today's win, along with fellow All Black Cory Jane.

Smith was his usual elegant self, showing none of the hamstring problems that have plagued him for some six weeks, while Gear powered over for two tries, increasing his season's tally to 10.

Canterbury underlined their dominance of the competition and strengthened their grasp on the Ranfurly Shield with their win over Manawatu.

Apart from the opening few minutes, when Manawatu ignored the script to score an early try, Canterbury looked assured in racking up a dominant eight-try victory.

They were aided in no small part by the return of a swag of All Blacks, with props Wyatt Crockett and Owen Franks, lock Brad Thorn and blindside flanker Kieran Read all starting.

All Blacks Richie McCaw and first five-eighth Dan Carter began on the reserves bench, although McCaw was called into action after flanker Kieran Read left the field after just 20 minutes.

Carter only came on for the final 15min, and wasted barely 1min of that before crossing for Canterbury's last try.

Bay of Plenty's semifinal dreams look to be in tatters after they suffered their third loss in a row.

After running in the top four for much of the season, Bay of Plenty have dropped to eighth after losing to an inspired North Harbour side who enjoyed their best night since their 22-19 win over Canterbury in the first round.

Southland opened the second half floodgates to overwhelm Tasman 41-0.

Ahead just 7-0 at halftime, Southland ran in six second half tries to pick up the bonus-point win and climb up the points table.

Waikato appear to be running into form at the sharp end of the season as they claimed their sixth win from their last seven matches with a strong second half against Otago.

Auckland's narrow win in miserable conditions over Taranaki threw them a lifeline in the playoffs scramble.

Wintry cold, wet, muddy, windy conditions reduced the contest to a messy arm wrestle, one largely confined to two combative forward packs, which went toe-to-toe for much of the 80 minutes.

Hawke's Bay stayed second on the table after overcoming a sloppy start to notch a resounding win over strugglers Counties-Manukau, with winger Zac Guildford scoring a hat-trick of tries.

- NZPA