Last year's finalists Southern and Harbour had to settle for a 29-29 draw at Watson Park this evening.
Southern nursed a fortunate 12-8 lead at the break. The second half was back and forth with each team finding a way to score when it got in each other's 22.
With just a minute remaining, it was Southern who led 29-22. But a knock on at the back of the scrum gave Harbour one last opportunity to level the score. The ball was swung wide to replacement back Kaleb Forde-Fraser, who dotted down 10m in from the sideline. Halfback Tala Fagasoaia nailed the clutch conversion to clinch a draw.
In the other games, Taieri demolished Dunedin 51-11 at Kettle Park, University beat Alhambra-Union 46-10 at the North Ground and Kaikorai wrestled the Challenge Shield off Zingari-Richmond 18-17 at Montecillo.