Taranaki scored their first win of this year's NPC with a shock 20-15 victory over Waikato in Hamilton on Saturday.

In the inaugural battle for the Ryan Wheeler Memorial Trophy, Daryl Lilley opened the scoring for Taranaki with an early penalty.

The Mooloo men struck back with a converted try and a penalty goal in the next five minutes, and a try by Bruce Reihana (pictured) took the score to 15-3.

The first half closed with two tries to Taranaki in as many minutes, Andrew Hore and Campbell Feather bringing the score almost even.

Taranaki scored the only points in the second half with a converted try pushing them ahead 20-15.

At the Pukekohe Satdium, Northland beat Counties-Manukau 18-9 in the mud in their latest NPC clash.

Northland trailed 9-8 at halftime, but rallied well in the second half, inspired by some good work from their pack in atrocious playing conditions.

In a game dominated by the boot, Northland flyhalf James Arlidge displayed some great skills to keep Counties under pressure.

Counties' notched their nine points thanks to the boot of Blair Feeney, who slotted three times in the first half. They remained in the game until a late penalty by Alridge took Northland clear and stole a bonus point away from Counties.

On a rare occasion when the ball was successfully spread wide, Northland's flying Fijian wing Rupeni Caucaunibuca glided over the mud to score on the stroke of halftime.

Vula Maimuri's try 11 minutes into the second half moved Northland into a 15-9 lead which proved to be too much of a mountain for Counties to climb.

North Harbour beat local rivals Auckland 16-5 for the latter's first loss of the season.

In another game from this weekend's action dominated by poor playing conditions, both sides struggled to produce some running rugby.

The goal-kicking skills of North Harbour's Willie Walker and his replacement later in the second half, veteran Frano Botica, proved crucial after Rua Tipoki scored a try for the Harbour team, while only Carlos Spencer's five-pointer got Auckland on the scoreboard.

Walker kicked a fifth-minute penalty from a handy position to open Harbour's account, which was increased six minutes later when right wing George Harder had a kick charged down outside his 22.

Amasio Valence skirted back to collect the dregs, but he was crushed by the rushing Harbour defence who swooped like vultures on the bobbling loose ball before referee Paul Honiss credited Tipoki the try in the frenzied goal-line scramble.

Carlos Spencer still managed to display some skill despite the hindering conditions, most notably leading up to his side's try.

A scrum on North Harbour's 22 saw Spencer run a wrap-around Valence before passing to a charging Mils Muliana who was able to offload a pass to a scurrying Spencer who had continued to track the ball wide. The flyhalf collected the ball in one arm before out-pacing the cover defence to slide over inside the corner post to cut the lead to five points.

Walker kicked his second penalty of the night 10 minutes into the second half and even though there was still 20 minutes left on the clock to run when Botica calmly slotted another three points to extend the lead to 16-5, the feeling was Harbour had done enough.

In a game played on Friday, Canterbury thrashed Bay of Plenty 72-3 to retain the Ranfurly Shield at Jade Stadium.

They showed their dominance within the first 10 minutes of the game with an 80-metre breakaway converted try set up by Robinson and scored by Mauger.

Marika Vunibaka scored the Cantabrians second try which was closely followed by another from Mauger. A last minute penalty to Bay of Plenty saw them make it onto the scoreboard just before halftime with Canterbury leading 25-3.

The second half wasn't much better for Bay of Plenty as their defence crumbled with Canterbury running in seven tries to seal the game 72-3.