Manurewa bounced back from their first loss of the season to secure a superb 33-32 win against Patumahoe at Mountfort Park on Saturday.
Up against his old side, coach Kaino Kaino’s team produced arguably the performance of the season to grab an upset win.
Manurewa bounced out of the gates with an early try before Patumahoe got themselves into the contest. But the home side responded and took a dominant lead into halftime.
Patumahoe came roaring home in the final minutes to salvage a pair of bonus points, but Kaino got the win against his old mates.
“Was really happy how we managed to hold on to the ball for long periods and assert pressure through our forward for our backs to finish off,” a delighted Kaino told Counties Sports Hub.
“Once again, I thought out set piece really stood out. There were a few jitters to start with in the scrums, but the boys managed to find their rhythm and go to another level.
“Big credit goes to Loni and Jeff [assistant coaches] – they really worked hard on that department this week.”
Karaka responded to last week’s loss to Ardmore Marist by out-lasting Bombay 54-20 at Karaka Sports Complex.
Little separated the two sides for the first hour or so before the defending McNamara Cup champs ran away with the game in the final quarter.
“Very tough first 50 minutes – you would look at the score and expect Karaka to have played into the wind in the first half but that was not the case,” coach Craig Hill said.
“The boys did a very good job in the last 30 minutes, putting together some good long range tries.
“We need to improve our discipline around offsides etc, gave away penalties and territory in the first 40.”
Pukekohe won for the third time in a row when they accounted for Papakura 55-5 at Massey Park.
They had to work hard to start with but were able to score plenty of tries once they got on top of Papakura.
“Papakura did really well to put us under pressure,” Pukekohe coach Michael Porter said.
“I was happy with our second half.”
Ardmore Marist remains atop the standings as they picked up their fourth successive win – a 90-15 victory over Weymouth at Laurie Gibbons Reserve.
“I’m pleased with how our boys went,” coach Suliasi Taufalele said.
“Weymouth played the game with good spirit so we enjoyed a good day out there.”
Patumahoe secured a 29-17 win on the road at Manurewa in the Bob Chandler Cup Premier 2 competition.
Ardmore Marist were too good for Waiuku 31-17, while Karaka triumphed 61-8 over Bombay and Pukekohe thumped Papakura 85-0.
Pukekohe edged Karaka 29-26 in a back-and-forth Sid Marshall Shield contest at Colin Lawrie Fields.
Onewhero blanked Tuakau 74-0 while defending champs Te Kauwhata hammered Te Kohanga 76-7.
Maramarua grabbed a 27-0 win over Manurewa while Drury enjoyed a 72-5 win over Puni.
Patumahoe secured a 34-19 win over Ardmore Marist in the Massey Cup U21 competition.
Pukekohe collected a 64-25 win at Manurewa while Karaka were too good for RuaNorth 70-7 at Karaka Sports Complex.
Karaka and Waiuku drew 15-15 in a thrilling U85s match at Karaka Sports Complex.
In other games, Patumahoe beat Beachlands Maraetai 29-22 and Pukekohe grabbed a 31-19 road win against Hamilton Marist.
Drury went down 20-16 to Fraser Tech and Bombay fell to Morrinsville 36-18.
Manurewa lost a thrilling Women’s Premier match against old foes Ponsonby 22-19 at Mountfort Park.
The local side will be kicking themselves after having two players sent to the bin and being down to 13 on the field at one time.
That period saw Ponsonby move in front and control the game.
Weymouth secured a terrific 43-20 win over Pukekohe in an all-Counties Manukau match-up in the Women’s Premier 2 grade.
