Manawatu has come from behind to draw 38-all with Waikato in a 10-try thriller at Palmerston North to kick off round three of the provincial rugby championship.
It wasn't great rugby though, with both sides making many mistakes, but Manawatu made more line breaks even though Waikato scored six tries to their four.
After starting with losses to Northland and Tasman Waikato led 17-16 at half-time and looked sure to win when Manawatu errors gifted them three tries early in the second spell.
But Manawatu closed the gap, scoring 15 points when the Waikato flanker Tom Harding was sin-binned, and equalised with their bonus point try when the replacement first five-eighths Aaron Cruden set up winger Andre Taylor.
