Two wins against bigger and more established provinces are bringing back the fans who were starting to abandon Hawke's Bay rugby, says coach Peter Russell.

With wins over Wellington and then North Harbour, Hawke's Bay have clearly signalled they're not in just for the competition but a bigger prize.

After strangling Wellington to climb up to the top four, they enhanced Napier's reputation as the graveyard for high-flyers when they torpedoed North Harbour 35-25 on Friday night to move into third spot.

It was just as well Harbour didn't take the Ranfurly Shield on tour.

However, Harbour's shield days will be over if they repeat Friday's performance against Waikato this Saturday.

After a muted celebration following the Wellington result, there was still no fanfare around the team over the weekend when Hawke's Bay claimed Harbour's scalp, going about their business quietly.

However, they made a major impact on the points table, moving to third from fourth with their third win in four games.

Auckland (20 points) maintained their lead after beating Southland 44-19 and earning a bonus point to stay a point ahead of Canterbury (19), who also earned a bonus point with the help of Stephen Brett's two tries and 26 points.

Waikato, like Hawke's Bay, also took a bonus point in their victory, 30-8 over Counties-Manukau to move into fourth spot.

In fact, five of the seven winners in the fourth round all earned a bonus point each.

Wellington's loss meant they dropped to fifth, equal on points with Northland who beat Tasman 9-3 on penalty kicks in Whangarei on Thursday.

Manawatu's finally leapt out of last place with their first win of the season -- 30-18 over Bay of Plenty -- in Palmerston North today.

Bay of Plenty committed too may errors and, like Counties-Manukau, have yet to win a game this season.

For Manawatu, the icing for the celebratory cake was applied by young replacement back Andre Taylor late in the game when he scored Manawatu's fourth, and bonus point, try.

Hawke's Bay however made the major impact of the fourth round.

"It's pretty pleasing, I suppose it was probably a dream start we had a few weeks back and we just kept going," Russell said of Hawke's Bay's results.

"We had a bit of a hiccup against Tasman. I suppose that came on the back of a hard two weeks."

There was a noticeable growth in the team's support base, Russell said.

"We're getting huge support and good following at game time and that's very pleasing. Things must be pleasing for the (Hawke's Bay) union because things are gaining momentum again. Quite a lot of the older folks who were drifting out are coming back to watch our games and are thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere."

Russell put the team's success to simply hard work pre-season.

"It was pretty relentless really. We have to keep things ticking over week by week."

He said when one of Hawke's Bay's favourite players in the 1960s, Ian MacRae, handed the players their jerseys before the North Harbour match, he could see a change in the players" attitude.

MacRae played from 1963-70 for the Bay and appeared in 45 matches (17 tests) for the All Blacks.

Hawke's Bay's three tries in a period of just four minutes lifted them to the bonus-point victory over Harbour, their first win in nine meetings. Harbour won the first seven while the teams drew when they last met, in 2001.

Auckland appeared close to hitting their straps against a brave Southland side.

Onosa'i Tololima-Auva'a scored two of their six delightful tries with players such as first five-eighth Lachie Munro and David Smith showing plenty of speed and skills.

Brett, a provincial understudy to Dan Carter, showed that the Canterbury production line of playmakers from Christchurch Boys wasn't running dry yet.

He displayed vision, skills, kicking ability -- both for goal and tactically -- and timing that would have assured New Zealand rugby that the current exodus may not hurt the future too badly.

Canterbury finally took the game away from Wellington in the last six minutes when they moved up a gear and scored two converted tries -- by Brett and winger Rico Gear -- for a final score of 41-23.

Otago scored an inspiring 18-15 win over Taranaki in New Plymouth for their second win in four games.