PREMIER RUGBY

A bitterly cold Saturday at the Oval produced some outstanding rugby and some major upsets. Horouta (green & gold) continued on their winning way securing the Lion Brown Cup with slick passing and confident controlled rugby. They completely outclassed Pinto YMP (black & white) 36-6 using the wind and plenty of good old fashioned initiative and enthusiasm.

It took plenty of guts and tenacious tackling for Emerre & Hathaway HSOB to score a thrilling win over GMC 13-8. Coming up against defending Champions, it was always going to be a tough call for HSOB but they showed true spirit as they turned into the wind at half time with a 13-8 lead which turned out to be the final score.

A confident Marist (blue & gold) squared up against Ball & Crawshaw Ngatapa after a win against YMP the previous week. Ngatapa (green & white) were not fazed by Marists' previous success's and after keeping even with them for the 1st half, decided to put it all together and finally show what they were capable of with tries coming thick and fast. It was a shock to the system for Top 4 Marist who were outplayed to the tune of 23-6.

There was only one way to show his Old Boys team how to play winning rugby as far as Coach Richard Owen was concerned, and that was to take to the field as fullback. Unfortunately for Mahia (maroon & white) "Mr Chips" had lost none of the skills he had displayed as PB fullback a few years backand they were soundly beaten 29-12 with the "old" Old Boy scoring a try and converting 4 penalties.

It was a day for some fine performances on grounds which leave a lot to be desired. Full credit must go to the committed players who turned on such sparkling rugby for the hundreds of loyal supporters and to the hasseled referees who made it all possible.