Rugby: Greerton Marist too tough for Mount

Mount Maunganui's steady diet of losing bonus points continued on Saturday, with a 26-20 loss to a resurgent Greerton Marist outfit at Greerton Park in a relatively even contest that saw them record their fourth win in as many weeks.

The Mount suffered the same fate as Rotoiti, Rangataua and Opotiki in falling to the Kane Parker-coached side in the past month, with losses to runaway competition leaders Tauranga Sports and strugglers Paroa in the first fortnight of action the only blemishes on an otherwise fantastic first six weeks of work.

The Mount controlled territory and possession for long periods, and had a fair amount of joy at the breakdown.

They led 3-0 after 10 minutes but were behind 12-3 at the break, courtesy of a couple of clinical efforts on attack from the home side.

Tries to Joe Tupe and impressive winger Tino Nemani, who latched on to a clever box kick on the bounce from the boot of halfback Alex Jessop before stepping inside the helpless fullback, gave Greerton the impetus heading into the break.

Mount's blindside flanker Matty Axtens reduced the deficit to just two points at the opening of the second half with all the poise of an outside back.

After incisive play from Zane Butler delivered quick ball to the left, Axtens summed up the situation before going to the line with the ball in two hands.

A show and go followed, with Axtens dotting down under the sticks without a hand being laid on him. The conversion made it 12-10 and forced Greerton into another gear.

Brendan McKeown crashed over from close range to extend the lead to 17-10, before three successive penalty goals to Andrew Boyd stretched the lead to 26-10 on the hour mark.

That sparked a mini resurgence from the Mount, with Butler charging over for an unconverted try in the corner to make it 26-15. Despite a late driving try to Duncan Walker and a pair of Greerton players being shown yellow cards, the home side hung on to record another win. Parker was thrilled with the result that solidifies his side's place in the top four.

In other action, Whakarewarewa beat Rangataua 34-18, Te Puna won 38-30 against Rotoiti and Opotiki thumped Paroa 41-11. The top three sides all had good weekends in division one. Unbeaten sides Rangiuru and Poroporo beat Ruatoki and Waikite respectively, while third-placed Kahukura beat Te Teko 32-17.

Fourth-placed Ngongotaha were soundly beaten by Katikati, going down 35-15 and slipping out of the last semifinal spot. Marist St Michael's upset fifth-placed Whakatane Marist 22-3 to form a logjam in the middle of division one.