Table topping Canterbury made heavy weather of rolling over bottom-placed Counties Manukau 28-17 at Pukekohe tonight, notching their eighth Air NZ Cup rugby win in 10 matches.
Canterbury produced a lacklustre display to lead by just 10-3 at halftime through a converted try by hooker Ti'i Paulo and a penalty from first five-eighth Stephen Brett after Counties led with a 13th-minute dropped goal from halfback Samisoni Fisilau.
Counties' efforts were aided by a Canterbury side that lacked rhythm and did not looked prepared to played structured rugby, opting instead to move the ball wide at every opportunity.
But their game was fractured by a lack of cohesion among their ball runners and their errors let Counties off the hook despite their missing more than 20 tackles throughout the game.
Fullback Colin Slade pushed Canterbury further in front with an early penalty in the second half but Counties struck back with the try of the game.
From behind their goalposts, they grabbed possession from a Canterbury breakdown and Mark Selwyn scored at the other end after right wing David Raikuna had prompted the counter-attack.
Slade banged over another penalty to stretch the lead before Sean Maitland punished Counties' woeful tackling for the first of his tries.
But Counties were not about to fold. They bounced back into the reckoning with a fine move from a 5m linout with substitute Alepini Olosoni crashing through a yawning gap in the Canterbury defence.
Maitland scored again, his second double in three matches, after a fine break by second five-eighth Ryan Crotty whose draw and pass opened a clear path down the tramline for his winger.
Having lost 22-82 to Canterbury last year, tonight's performance against the defending champions could be counted a something of a moral victory for Counties.
