Auckland ran riot in the second half to condemn Southland to a 51-16 Mitre 10 Cup thrashing at Rugby Park on Friday.
Mitre 10 Cup: Auckland cruise to Southland win
Mitre 10 Cup: Patrick Tuipulotu was among the scorers as Auckland recorded back-to-back wins in the Mitre 10 Cup by beating Southland 51-16.
The visitors – runners up last year – sealed back-to-back wins with a relentless show of dominance in the final 10 minutes.
Southland, who have now lost three in a row, were in the match at the break, trailling only 9-6 as all the points came from the boot.
However, it all went badly downhill after the interval, Rieko Ioane scoring the first of his two tries within seconds of the restart.
Joe Ravouvou extended Auckland's lead when he touched down on the hour, with James Cowan scoring the hosts' only try four minutes later.
But then came the deluge of 28 unanswered points, as Patrick Tuipulotu, Pryor Collier and Kurt Eklund got in on the act alongside Ioane.
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