Waikato - 43 Wellington - 37
Waikato have battled back to edge Wellington in a sensational comeback win in Hamilton.
Trailing by 26 points at the half, a yellow card to Julian Savea proved the turning point, as the hosts reeled off a string of tries to claim an unlikely victory at FMG Stadium.
The hosts opened the scoring in the fifth minute, with stand-out second-five Quinn Tupaea putting wing Mosese Dawai over out wide.
Wellington struck back minutes later through wing Pepesana Patafilo, who capitalised on a superb long ball from first-five Ruben Love to bump off the final defender and score in the corner.
Patafilo had his second try just two minutes later, after Peter Umaga-Jensen made a magnificent 70m burst from the kick-off to put his side immediately back on the front foot.
Skipper Du'Plessis Kirifi was on hand to finish a well executed 5m lineout drive to extend Wellington's lead, before Julian Savea ran in from broken play moments later.
Umaga-Jensen then pounced for an intercept try to boost Wellington's halftime advantage to an imposing 34-8.
With Savea sent to the bin early in the second half, Waikato cashed in on their one-man advantage with two quick tries to Jack Lam and Olie Norris to reduce their deficit to 12 points.
Cortez Ratima then scrambled over the line, followed minutes later by a Liam Messam pushover to make it a one-point game with 11 minutes to play.
Liam Coombes-Fabling then stepped inside the fullback to give the Mooloos an improbable 43-37 lead.
Compunding matters for Wellington was the loss of 20-year-old Hurricanes first-five Ruben Love, who limped from the field early in the second half with an apparent ankle injury.
Southland - 11 Bay of Plenty- 31
Bay of Plenty have overcome Southland to record their first win of their NPC campaign.
After a tight opening tussle, the visitors broke the try-scoring deadlock in the 20th minute, with Mitchell Karpik on hand to cash in on a break from wing Onisi Ratave.
Kaleb Trask added a penalty to give the Steamers a 10-0 lead at halftime.
The Stags made the ideal start to the second half, flanker Charles Alaimalo running in their first try courtesy of a precision long ball from centre Isaac Te Tamaki.
Bay of Plenty responded through Sean Wainui, who crashed over in the tackle to push their lead to 17-8 with just over a quarter of the game remaining.
With 12 minutes to play, Ratave made a rampaging run for his second try of the game to give the Steamers some breathing room at 24-11.
Nikora Broughton then put the nail in Southland's coffin.
