Tasman Tanning Wanganui premier rugby leaders Ruapehu continued on its winning way as round two of the competition kicked off on Saturday - but only just.
As expected, the boys from the mountain brought their forward game against the young Marist side, but failed to dominate as anticipated. Both sides had their chances during the game and the 10-8 scoreline reflected the closeness of the match at Spriggens Park.
Marist had tinkered with its back line, slotting young Kent Rivers into half back, while regular No9 Sean Brown started at first five.
The altered back line took a while to gel in the first half and two minutes into the match a penalty allowed Ruapehu centre Tautahi Rawiri to put his side three points up.
Five minutes into match Ruapehu capitalised on a relentless forward attack when Fraser Hammond crossed for their only try of the match.