Loose forward Blair Urlich, who barely raised a sweat in his 15 minutes for the Blues on Friday night, raised a full head of steam in the opening round of North Harbour club rugby on Saturday.
Urlich was dynamic at No 8, setting up two of Takapuna's three second half tries to beat Marist 27-3.
Takapuna first five-eighth Ngapaku Ngapaku was commanding, kicking well for position and landing three conversions and a penalty goal.
Sceond five-eighth Sean Ross was promising and, with former Helensville backs Joe Faaloga and Darren Robson at centre and full-back respectively, Takapuna look likely to win their seventh consecutive championship.
Kumeu, without recognised first and second five-eighths, also used forward power to come from a 3-6 halftime deficit to beat North Shore 32-6.
Kumeu had a prop ordered off after 10 minutes, but the seven-man pack proved more than adequate. Big lock Alipati Paufoou cleaned out the lineouts and scored a try. Hooker Tau Lupi scored three tries and prop Daniel Maka another.
Silverdale, last season's beaten finalist, were made to work hard before beating East Coast Bays 25-19. Silverdale scored three tries to one.
Former Silverdale-man Kent Currie was not the toast of his former team mates, kicking a conversion and four penalty goals to keep East Coast Bays in the hunt.
Glenfield took a flying start, beating Mahurangi 27-0.
Northcote downed Massey 10-6 and Helensville were the biggest winnders of the day, thrashing Navy 50-7.
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