The smaller sides enjoyed their moment in the sun during last season's ITM Cup but the big boys appear back in charge in the current campaign.
A rampant Auckland thumped Northland 64-21 at Eden Park tonight to move second in the Premierships standings, trailing only Canterbury with a week left in the round robin.
First and second in terms of titles in provincial history, Auckland and Canterbury must be considered favourites, judging by current form, to advance to the competition's showpiece.
Canterbury locked up a home semifinal earlier in the day and, one point ahead of defending champions Taranaki, Auckland will do likewise with a win over Counties-Manukau next weekend.
Their undoubted attacking threat proved far too menacing for an overmatched Northland, who turned in the type of display that showed just why they're languishing in last place without a win to their names.
Cracking the half-century saw Auckland pull level overtake Tasman atop the competition's scoring charts, while the 10 tries they recorded left them alone in that standing.
The visit to Eden Park always loomed as an exercise in damage limitation for Northland, one that began poorly when Akira Ioane opened the scoring after five minutes. The Taniwha defence did initially illustrate some resolve but tries to George Moala and Greg Pleasants-Tate seemed to break their spirit, with Ioane securing the bonus point with some time to spare in the opening half.
After Melani Nanai made it 35-0 heading into the break, the situation slightly improved for the visitors in the second spell, as Warren Dunn's double at least added some respectability to the scoreline.
But Bryce Heem demonstrated the gulf in class with a superb individual effort, using speed, strength and an unstoppable step to dash half the length of the field.
Auckland 64 (A. Ioane 2, G. Moala 2, G. Pleasants-Tate, M. Nanai, L. Visinia, B. Heem, M. Karpik, K. Eklund tries; S. Hickey 5 cons, J. Hickey con, C. Fonoti con) Northland 21 (W. Dunn 2, M. Stolberg tries; D. Hawkins 3 cons) HT: 35-0
