Canterbury climbed into the top four in the Air NZ Cup rugby standings when they beat Taranaki 14-0 in a dour game in New Plymouth tonight.
The win, from a try and three penalties, gave them 14 points after four rounds, moving them a point ahead of Otago but behind unbeaten teams Wellington and Bay of Plenty.
It was a far from convincing display from Canterbury after they clinically dismantled defending champions Auckland 34-3 last week.
It was only Taranaki's penchant to fritter away possession with aimless kicks that allowed Canterbury to bank the four points.
Neither side got into their stride all game.
Taranaki, who were upset 23-33 by Tasman last week, had the edge in territory and possession from the kickoff but were unable to profit from it as they continually lost the ball through handling errors or Canterbury pinched it off them in the rucks and mauls.
Taranaki's chances to put points on the board saw first five-eighth Willie Ripia miss a 50m attempt from in front of the posts and then another from a more favourable distance.
In the 20th minute, winger Paul Perez tried a chip a chase and lost the ball when he might have done better to keep it in hand.
Canterbury left wing James Paterson had two dabs at the line but was bundled into touch just metres short on both occasions.
It was left to first five-eighth Colin Slade to punish Taranaki indiscretions and he landed a brace in the 26th, 30th and 40th minutes for a 9-0 lead a halftime.
It was more of the same from both teams in the second half.
Taranaki halfback Brett Goodin made the most of two blindside breaks to gain good ground but the moves petered out due to lack of support, forcing Goodin to gift possession to Canterbury with ineffectual kicks both times.
Canterbury finally got the upper hand in the dying minutes and capped off a period of domination inside the Taranaki 22 with a try to fullback Paul Williams on the dot of fulltime.
