Canterbury have continued to climb the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership ladder, thrashing Northland 42-12 at Semenoff Stadium.
It took just three minutes for the visitors to stamp their mark on the game, Sam Gilbert scoring after early domination from Canterbury.
But to the hosts' credit, they hit back with a try of their own, Sean Sweetman charging over after really nice build-up play from the Taniwha backs.
The home side kept the pressure on throughout the first half but weren't able to find the final pass for a second try.
Canterbury worked the ball forward through large chunks of possession until they won another lineout and were able to drive over the line, Brodie McAlister scoring to take the lead to 15-7.
They extended their lead to 22-7 with just six minutes left in the half, fullback Josh McKay pounced on a loose ball to go 50 metres untouched to score under the posts.
The visitors came out of the break and asserted their dominance further, Whetu Douglas pushing his way over the line off another lineout drive.
Northland never gave up, first five Jack Debreczini scored a well-worked try out wide to get the margin to 18 with 17 minutes to go.
But any chance of a comeback was quashed a few minutes later, Brett Cameron put in a pin-point cross-field kick to Fergus Burke who took the ball on the bounce to score - taking the score to 37-18 and out of Northland's reach.
The nine-time champions weren't done with yet, a clinical attack saw them go 60 metres through the hands of nearly everyone to see Cullen Grace score Canterbury's sixth try of the night.
The red and blacks will head home to host Manawatu on Thursday and the Taniwha will host the Bay of Plenty on Sunday.
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