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Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City, the inimitable singer Bobby “Blue” Bland sang in 1974. The classic R&B hit could be applied in the penultimate round of the 2026 NPC.
That season Waikato won their first NPC title and bagged eight All black people in their starting XV against the Lions. Blind winger Tom Coventry scored three tries.
Otago were 14-0 down in 14 minutes North Harbour 32-21. North Harbor won six matches, five more than in 2025. Their three losses to Tasman top eight sides, Canterbury and Manawatu along with six points.
The athletic and fighting pack holds its own.
Veteran Bryn Hall pulls the strings at half-back and some Super Rugby teams could look to sign center Tom Barham and winger Rory Taylor. They combined for five consecutive shutouts on Saturday night, something that is becoming a standard.
Earlier this month North Harbour’s Silverdale Procut Truffle Pigs won the 85kg National Club Cup, finishing the season 20-0. Can North Harbor make its first NPC final since 1994?
In the fitness and dismissal of Bradley Slater, Scott Barrett, Josh Jacobs and Josh Lord, Taranaki thrashed Hawke’s Bay 50-14 to soar into the top eight.
With that ammunition, the 2023 champions could end their inconsistent campaign with a wet sail. Interestingly, in 2024 they won 63-19 in Napier, with Bradley Slater scoring two tries in that game as well as on Sunday.
Tasman is bolstered by similar All Blacks talent and pace Bay of Plenty at home on Thursday 45-26. The Steamers appear to have run out of puff, and will likely miss the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
Who were the performers of the week in round nine of the NPC?
AJ Alatimu (County Manukau)
Paying $9 on the TAB, decimated in the scrums and trailing at half-time playing into the wind, Counties Manukau pulled off the impossible by toppling the top of the table Northland to claim the Ranfurly Shield for only the second time and the first time since 2013.
First-5 and Samoan international AJ Alatimu slotted a tricky 77th-minute slant penalty from 30 meters to put the Steelers in front for the only time of the match, slotting home from a similar spot to where he had leveled a try from elusive full-back Adam Morrison ten minutes earlier.
“Stand back, count to four and pray to God and it will all be over,” Alatimu guessed his winning shot.
It is now arguably the most famous strike in the county’s history and a Ranfurly Shield challenger’s penalty rivaling Lima Sopoaga’s penalties for Waikato v Taranaki 2025, Campbell Parat for Tasman v Hawke’s Bay 2024, or, ironically, even Stuart “Chippy” for Northwack v Semena in 2019.
Ranked 13th with no playoff chances, this matchup was essentially the Steelers’ finale.
Alatim, who didn’t have much luck in the final, got a big result.
He was named Ardmore Marist Comeback of the Year this year. His club team topped the McNamara Cup round with a 13-1 record, but lost 24-22 to Pukekohe in the final.
Alatimu scored 504 points Major League Rugby but lost the championship game twice, vs Seattle Seawolves 2022 and the Houston SaberCats in 2025.
In addition to his clutch field goals, Alatimu was steady offensively and went eight plays without a turnover. Counties were forced to make 42 tackles more than Northland.
Loose forward Adam Brash made 24 in a typically tenacious game. He ranks among the top five forwards in the NPC.
Brayden Iose (Manawatu)
Manawatu went 18 matches in a row between 1982 and 2022 without defeating Auckland. Now the Turbos have back-to-back wins at Eden Park.
Manawatu followed up their 33-31 win in 2023 with a stunning 40-34 loss on Friday night. The Turbos trailed 12-0 and trailed twice more, but still secured their fifth win of the season, their best effort since 2014.
As usual, Brayden Iose was inspirational, almost doubling the mileage of the next leading forward, Che Clark.
His break from a turnover in the 67th minute, with Manawatu narrowly ahead 26-22, set up a try that was spectacularly finished by Jai Tamati, New Zealand Under 20 representative from Rotorua Boys’ High School.
Iose also made 13 cheats. Was Iose ever considered by the All Blacks selectors?
There was a significant impact from the Manawatu bench, with the winning try scored by prop Feleti Sae-Ta’ufo’ou, with additional kicks from Tamati, former Northland flanker Rory Woods and Palmerston North Boys’ High School full-back Liam O’Connor, who dribbled with Auk guile to beat Messi.
Mesulame Dolokoto’s surrogate whore has done the final twist.
Vetrain’s Corrineke Windle scored only her second penalty in 41 games to win the match in the 86th minute.
Shannon Frizell (Tasman)
He backed up his strong start against Auckland with a powerful performance against Bay of Plenty.
Frizell scored Tasman’s first try after an early concession, charging down the wing.
He set up Cooper Roberts three minutes before half-time to make it 26-12 for the hosts with a devastating run, shedding two defenders and showing skill. Frizell’s nine carries resulted in two line breaks and 71 yards, the most productive forward in the game.
Defensively, Frizell topped the tackle count with 17 tackles and a fumble recovery.
Since the retirement of the redoubtable Jeremoia Kain (81 Tests, 68 wins) in 2015, the All Blacks blindside flanker roll-up has included Wallace Sititi, Samipeni Finau, Ethan Blackadder, Akira Ioane, Scott Barrett, Tupou Vaa’i, Elliot Li Dix, Elliot Lu Dix Fifita, Dalton Papali’i, Luke Jacobson, Peter Lakai and Frizell.
His best performance in an All Blacks shirt, arguably the best of all six since Cain, came that year in a 35-20 win against South Africa in Auckland.
Frizell did not lose form with Toshiba Brave Lupus in Tokyo.
He played 37 games for 30 wins, scoring 21 tries as Lupus won the Top League in 2023–24 and 2024–25.
Is it time to go back to the future with a more mature Frizella? Tupou Va’s experiment was overwhelming. Has anyone else nailed the All Blacks blindside midfield stronger than Frizell since 2023?
On the other hand, Timoci Tavatavanawai looked lively despite having to remove the wood splitters from his back after so much time on the bench in South Africa. Tavatavanawai’s nine tackles resulted in three turnovers.
He most often carried the ball to Makko.
Is there more lost talent in New Zealand than Tavatavanawai?
Super Rugby Pacific’s leading tackler is also a beast with the ball in hand, beating most defenders and delivering the sixth most clearances.
Is Tavatavanawai the shot the All Blacks need against a tougher defense when they’re in doubt about achieving set-piece parity? Who can remember the last line break Anton Lienert-Brown made for the All Blacks?
Furthermore, Tavatavanawai could be turned into a hybrid option, introduced to play multiple roles against tiring defences, much like Springboks Rugby World Cup winners Kwagga Smith (46 wins in 63 Tests) and André Esterhuizen (28 wins in 36 Tests) or the Tasman team Leicester Work hard.
