NPC round four: Hawke's Bay are four from four, and seven teams are separated by six points

Four rounds in, and the top of the NPC is a traffic jam.

Seven teams sit inside six points. One team has won every game. Two have not won any. And the side everybody is talking about is not even top of the table.

Round four

| | Result | Where | |---|---|---| | Thu 20 Aug | Canterbury 12, Northland 36 | One NZ Stadium, Christchurch | | Fri 21 Aug | Hawke's Bay 59, Manawatu 17 | McLean Park, Napier (6,800 in) | | Sat 22 Aug | Tasman 46, Southland 17 | Trafalgar Park, Nelson | | Sat 22 Aug | North Harbour 27, Auckland 19 | North Harbour Stadium, Albany | | Sat 22 Aug | Bay of Plenty 28, Taranaki 24 | Rotorua International Stadium | | Sun 23 Aug | Waikato 45, Counties Manukau 12 | FMG Stadium Waikato | | Sun 23 Aug | Otago 61, Wellington 22 | Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin |

That Canterbury result is the one with a story attached. Northland went to Christchurch, won 36-12, and eight days later went back and took the Ranfurly Shield off the same union. Some weeks just belong to a province.

The ladder after four

| # | Team | P | W | L | Diff | Pts | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Hawke's Bay | 4 | 4 | 0 | +105 | 20 | | 2 | Northland | 4 | 3 | 1 | +89 | 17 | | 3 | North Harbour | 4 | 3 | 1 | +86 | 17 | | 4 | Waikato | 4 | 3 | 1 | +50 | 17 | | 5 | Otago | 4 | 3 | 1 | +64 | 16 | | 6 | Tasman | 4 | 3 | 1 | +15 | 15 | | 7 | Canterbury | 4 | 3 | 1 | -8 | 14 | | 8 | Bay of Plenty | 4 | 2 | 2 | -10 | 13 | | 9 | Auckland | 4 | 1 | 3 | -25 | 8 | | 10 | Taranaki | 4 | 1 | 3 | -37 | 8 | | 11 | Southland | 4 | 1 | 3 | -56 | 7 | | 12 | Manawatu | 4 | 1 | 3 | -69 | 6 | | 13 | Wellington | 4 | 0 | 4 | -101 | 3 | | 14 | Counties Manukau | 4 | 0 | 4 | -103 | 1 |

Three things the table tells you

Hawke's Bay are the story. Four wins, four bonus points, 205 points scored and 31 tries. Nobody else is close on any of those numbers. The Magpies are not sneaking wins, they are running teams off the park.

Bonus points are doing real work. Northland, North Harbour and Waikato are all locked on 17 with three wins each. Canterbury also have three wins and sit three points behind them on 14, because they have picked up two bonus points to Northland's five. In a competition this tight, the difference between second and seventh is a couple of extra tries in games you already won.

The bottom two are in trouble. Wellington have shipped 194 points and 30 tries in four weeks. Counties Manukau have scored 71 all season, which is 134 fewer than Hawke's Bay, and have a single competition point to their name.

Round five, this weekend

| | Match | Where | |---|---|---| | Thu 27 Aug, 7.10pm | Southland v Hawke's Bay | Rugby Park, Invercargill | | Fri 28 Aug, 7.10pm | Auckland v Bay of Plenty | Eden Park | | Sat 29 Aug, 2.05pm | Taranaki v Canterbury | Stadium Taranaki | | Sat 29 Aug, 5.05pm | Otago v Waikato | Forsyth Barr Stadium | | Sat 29 Aug, 7.10pm | Manawatu v North Harbour | Central Energy Trust Arena | | Sun 30 Aug, 2.05pm | Wellington v Counties Manukau | Hnry Stadium | | Sun 30 Aug, 5.05pm | Northland v Tasman | Semenoff Stadium, Whangarei |

That last one is the first Ranfurly Shield defence of Northland's tenure, and the first the province has had to make since 1978.

Two of these are also Farah Palmer Cup double-headers: Otago and Manawatu both host a women's fixture alongside the men's game, so one ticket gets you two matches. The FPC season starts the same weekend.