Wellington's beaten Hawkes Bay 21-13 at a sold out McLean Park in Napier to join Southland at the top of the table with two matches still to be played in round two of rugby's provincial championship.
Hawkes Bay led 13-10 at half-time but gave away too much ball to repeat last week's bonus point win over Auckland, gifting a late try to the Wellington wing David Smith, who snared a mis-directed kick then slipped two tackles.
Wellington scored the first try when Hosea Gear finished off a Tamati Eillison break, only to be promptly sin-binned.
Hawkes Bay made the most of Gear's absence and went ahead 13-10 just on half-time when prop Sona Taumalolo burrowed over in a ruck.
Earlier, Waikato beat Manawatu 30-22 in Hamilton, leading 12-7 at half-time and scoring four tries to Manawatu's three.
Southland remain unbeaten after their win over Otago in Dunedin last night when Tasman upset North Harbour at Albany.
