The three top performers from round ten of the Hilux NPC

The 50th NPC has thrown up several surprises. Ultimately, defending champions Canterbury, who have won more games than any province between 1976 and 2026, have qualified for the playoffs at the top of the table.

Does that mean the Red and Blacks boringly win a 16th title? Despite five consecutive wins, they will face stiff resistance from Taranaki. Taranaki last beat Canterbury on August 28 (40-26) and have won three consecutive matches, scoring more than 50 points in each.

North Harbour, who have had few issues scoring points, had the chance to usurp Canterbury for first place. Have they got stage fright? The massive improvers and 1994 runners-up could not beat ninth-place Bay of Plenty.

Tasman are another team catching hot form with a record-breaker on the wing. Can the Mako win a third title in their 20th season?

Auckland, Wellington, and Waikato suffered big city losses. Meanwhile, Counties Manukau showed the nerves of Steelers to resist Hawke’s Bay and relax for the summer with the Ranfurly Shield.

Results (home team first): Otago: 45, Auckland: 42, Southland: 14, Northland: 28, Manawatu: 12, Canterbury: 22, Counties Manukau: 12, Hawke’s Bay: 7, Waikato: 33, Tasman: 50, Taranaki: 68, Wellington: 26, Bay of Plenty: 38, North Harbour: 21.

Who were the performers of the week in the last regular-season round of the NPC?

Kyren Taumoefolau (Tasman)

With tries in the 31st, 54th, 62nd and 79th minutes, Kyren Taumoefolau passed Terry Wright and Brendan Laney’s record of most tries in a single NPC Division 1 season.

Taumoefolau has scored 18 tries in 10 games, passing the old mark of 15 set by Wright for Auckland in 1984 and Laney for Otago in 1998. Both sides went on to win the championship. Wright scored two tries in a 50-4 win against Waikato at Eden Park. Laney scored twice in Otago’s 49-20 win against Waikato in the final at Carisbrook in Dunedin.

Taumoefolau has scored at least one try in eight games in 2026. His first two tries to pass the record were routine finishes, as was his fourth, a last-minute stroll over. His third, catching a deliberate deflection from fellow winger Macca Springer and beating four defenders in narrow space, was pure class. Taumoefolau also supplied the last pass for a David Havili try.

It was a rough night for Waikato, conceding 50 points against Tasman for only the second time since the Mako were founded in 2006. In Nelson in 2013, Tasman thrashed Waikato 64-28 with Marty Banks scoring 24 points, and Liam Squire (All Black) scoring two tries. The most points Waikato have conceded at home in an NPC game is 58 by Canterbury in 2014. Canterbury fielded 11 current or future internationals in a 31-point romp that included two tries by Waikato halfback Brad Webber (All Black).

The last player to score four tries against Waikato in the NPC was Kade Banks, who achieved the feat in a 43-29 win by North Harbour in Albany in 2024. Late All Black Norm Berryman scored four tries for the New Zealand Harlequins in Waikato’s biggest ever defeat, 96-25 in 1995.

Joe Tamani (Otago)

The Fijian international lock has signed for the Highlanders until 2028 and, on his display against Auckland, appears to be a valuable acquisition.

He sparked an Otago resurgence with a rampant run-in for a try when the hosts were down 21-7 and being outplayed. Later, his carry down the short side caused a high tackle penalty that allowed Cam Millar to kick the winning penalty in extra time.

Tamani was a consistent presence with 15 tackles, a turnover, and nine carries, ranking in the top five in each category for his side. He is athletic, physical, and busy, essentially a fourth loose forward. He has played 40 games for the Fijian Dura in Super Rugby Pacific.

Meanwhile “clutch” Cam Millar is making a habit of nailing big kicks. He kicked a penalty to win Otago a quarter-final against Waikato last year and repeated the dose in Super Rugby Pacific 2026 in the Highlanders ‘ first-round victory over the Crusaders.

Arguably Auckland played their best game of the season, but electric touches from Stephen Perofeta and Cody Vai weren’t enough to prevail.

It’s the first time in the NPC that Otago have beaten Auckland three times in a row, and 45 is their highest score against Auckland in Dunedin, eclipsing their 37-33 win in 2013 when Hayden Parker scored 22 points.

Auckland have scored 42 points once before in a loss. In 2003 they were beaten 46-42 by Wellington despite 11 current or future internationals in their roster. Thomas Waldrom and Ross Fillipo scored two tries each for the Eden Park victors, who were later beaten in the final in Wellington by Auckland 41-29.

Auckland’s highest-scoring loss was 43 points in their thrilling one-point defeat to Northland in 2001, also at Eden Park. In that game, James Arlidge, an Auckland loan player who later played for Japan, kicked a last-play conversion of a Rupeni Caucaunibuca try. Jason Shoemark, now coaching the Hastings Boys High School First XV, scored two tries. Auckland scored 35 in a one-point loss to Hawke’s Bay in Napier in 2024. Harry Godfrey made a sideline conversion of a last-play Ben O’Donnell try.

It was another poor season for Auckland, who, since beating Canterbury 36-29 at Eden Park in 2023, have won only nine of 34 matches. At least Auckland can take heart in the development of New Zealand Under-20 youngsters Rico Simpson and Caleb Woodley. The lineout operated effectively, the second most reliable in the NPC. Hooker Nathaniel Pole and loose forward Che Clark played strongly.

Adam Brash (Counties Manukau)

Standing on a dusty gravel track with both hands awkwardly in his pockets, Adam Brash shared the Ranfurly Shield with his Bombay rugby club, an event Counties socials depicted more brashly than the subject.

Any hesitancy was put aside on Saturday by the tireless tackling openside. Twenty tackles were typical for one of the most reliable defenders in the NPC.

The first of only three tries in the game was as spicy and hectic as sub-continent Bombay. Ten phases, fast hands, and a crumbling Magpies defence on the edge saw Brash take an inside pass from Samoan international Alamanda Motuga, who made 23 tackles.

Brash has played 49 of the last 52 Counties games, including all 21 wins, and scored 13 tries. His wholehearted approach is quintessential NPC rugby.

#Limp Lions: The Wellington Lions are so uniquely bad that the facts speak for themselves. Division 1 NPC teams to lose every game in a single season

1977: Marlborough, 0-8*

1990: Southland, 0-10*

1993: Hawke’s Bay, 0-8

1994: Taranaki, 0-8

1995: Southland, 0-8

1996: King Country, 0-8*

1998: Northland, 0-9

2003: Northland, 0-9

2004: Northland, 0-9

2005: Northland, 0-9

2015: Northland, 0-10*

2017: Southland, 0-10

2018: Southland, 0-10

2022: Manawatu, 0-10

2026: Wellington, 0-10

*Didn’t achieve a single point on the championship table.

Northland (1976), Hawke’s Bay (1978), Southland (1999), Manawatu (2006), Counties Manukau (2007) also failed to win a game but managed a draw.

Northland lost 30 games in a row in Division I between 2002 and 2006 but won the annual promotion-regulation match, which ended in 2006. Southland lost 27 consecutive games between 2016 and 2019. They lost every game in the 2017 and 2018 seasons but conceded fewer points than Wellington in both seasons.

Wellington conceded 502 points in ten games. None of the above all-time losers conceded that many, nor did they concede 50 or more points in a single game five times or 60 three times. Inflation, a charitable soul claimed. However, the Lions leaked 76 tries this season, more than any of these battlers and a single-season record for the province in the NPC. The previous worst was 49 tries in 10 matches in 2014 and 2025. The Lions scored four or more tries in five games. That is as academic as a far-right blogger trying to push in at the Unity Books launch of Nicky Hager’s latest book.

Wellington have lost 12 consecutive games, an all-time Union record, failing to win any game in a season for the first time since 1884. That year they played only one game against New Zealand, which they lost 0-9 before New Zealand’s tour of Australia. New Zealand in 1884 was the predecessor to what we now know as the All Blacks. In fact, that was the first official “All Blacks” team.

The Lions have lost nine consecutive away games and six successive away games, both records.

Wellington won the NPC in 2024, shortly after a Union record 21-game winning streak that included a rare tenure with the Ranfurly Shield. Since 2025, Wellington’s record is three wins in 20 games. They have scored 560 points and conceded 839.

Before the last home loss to Northland 52-28, head coach Trent “Party Starter” Reneta said: “Results tell us where we are, not where we’re going. There’s been a lot of internal growth.”