Tauranga Sports have ridden a truckload of penalties home to beat Whakarewarewa 24-17 in a stop-start affair at Tauranga Domain yesterday.
One sideline scribe listed the penalty count as 15-2 in favour of Tauranga Sports which, when combined with the visitors receiving two yellow cards, destroyed any possibility of what threatened to be a boil-over.
Whakarewarewa conceded penalties early and often, but looked well up for the contest and sprang out to a 12-3 lead after 30 minutes.
Siegfried Fisiihoi scored a classic forward's try in the shadow of the posts after successive phases to give his side the lead before a piece of individual brilliance from a newcomer split Sports open.
Whakarewarewa fullback Whaimotu Craft-Chemis caught a misjudged clearing kick, jammed off his left foot between two defenders before goose-stepping another and delivering a perfect skip ball to handy first-five Te Rangi Fraser to score.