After recording a win and a loss yesterday, Dunedin, who have qualified for the top eight, will face Eastern Waikato at the Edgar Centre this morning.
If they beat Eastern Waikato, Dunedin qualify for the fifth-sixth playoff. Otherwise, they will play for seventh and eighth.
Eastern Waikato recorded a 51-23 win over Hutt Valley and a narrow 38-34 loss to defending champions Wellington Black yesterday.
Dunedin put up a valiant fight against Auckland, who are always tough, but eventually lost 48-33 yesterday.
But the home side can be proud of their strong finish. They won the fourth quarter 14-13 and scored six of the last eight goals.
Auckland went on mini-runs throughout the game and went up 12-8 at the first break and extended to a 26-14 lead at halftime.
It was a better defensive effort in the second half from Dunedin, keeping Auckland to just nine goals in the third quarter.
Earlier, Dunedin produced a dominant 50-17 win over Christchurch Black.
The home side scored the opening six goals of the game, and kept Christchurch scoreless for nearly half the quarter to set the platform for the rest of the game.
They held an 11-3 lead at the break and extended it to 23-5 at halftime in an impressive defensive effort to restrict Christchurch to just five goals in the first half.
Dunedin won the last two quarters 13-6 and 14-6 in a better second half for their opponents.
Other southern teams produced some good results.
Invercargill, who have made the top 16, had a tough 51-20 loss to Waitakere 1 and a 30-27 loss against Rotorua.
Eastern Southland had a good 42-30 win over Whanganui and backed up with a 39-18 win over Thames Valley. Central Lakes pipped Nelson 30-29 and lost 17-15 to Wellington Gold.
Invercargill play Hawkes Bay, Eastern Southland face Manawatu White and Central Lakes take on Northern Cluster first up today.
