A haul of 18 points from Te Puke fullback Sipa Moimoi has ended Whakarewarewa's hopes of making this year's Baywide rugby finals.
The fullback was in devastating form for his side scoring two tries, kicking four from five conversions, as well as having a hand in two of his team's five tries to help his side to a 31-14 victory at Puarenga Park at the weekend.
Moimoi's ability to chime into the backline was Israel Dagg like, causing all sorts of problems for the Whaka defence.
Despite playing into a stiff southwesterly, Whaka had the better start thanks to the much awaited return of Maurice Stone (junior) to first-five.
Stone, who had been out because of a shoulder injury, brought back the much needed direction the side appeared to have lacked over the past few weeks.
His ability to spark his backline almost looked to give his side the perfect start within the first minute. He fired a bullet pass to his outside backs who gave left winger Chanse Perham some space out wide, only for Moimoi to bring him down just short of the try line.
Whaka had to eventually settle for a penalty kick in the third minute to John Ririnui for offside play at the breakdown.
It was the visitors who scored the first five pointer in the 15th minute. Te Puke captain Tim Bond was used as a battering ram between the channel of first and second-five, sucking in defenders which opened a hole for Moimoi to break through and offload to the charging Mike Hinaki to score near the post and converted by Moimoi.
Both sides struggled with the gusty conditions with play often breaking down for kicks which either failed to find touch (Whaka) or kicked into the dead ball area (Te Puke).
Moimoi scored the first of his two converted tries in the 29th minute using his ability to bump off would-be tacklers.
Whaka scored their only try in the 35th minute to No 8 Henry Kershaw from a rolling maul to go into the halftime break 14-8 down.
The home side had every right to be confident they could turn the score around with a strong tail wind. However, Mother Nature played the cruelest of tricks on Whaka, with the wind dying down and at times non-existent.
Ririnui open the scoring in the second half with a 50m penalty kick in the 12th minute but Whaka's spirit was broken when Te Puke managed to pick the ball up from a 5m scrum, which looked to have been knocked on by the halfback, and score under the post for Moimoi to convert.
Although Whaka managed to peg the lead back with a penalty, Moimoi sealed Whaka's fate with his second try and the nail was driven home right on the stroke of full-time when centre Ben Word scored.
Te Puke coach Craig Jeffries said it wasn't the prettiest game to watch.
"A win's a win, especially against Whaka. It was a shambles, I think both teams will be pretty disappointed with the way they played. Not much for people to watch.
"At the end of the day, the boys kept doing the job and they got five points and that's all we can take out of it."
Whaka coach Maurice Stone senior said it was a hard game to lose.
"I was disappointed. I think we did well enough in the first half to be in contention and we worked to our game plan we set out there but it didn't help when the wind died away."