Opotiki warhorse Dean Elmiger says his side are inching closer to grabbing a playoffs spot in the Baywide premiership, although they came within a coat of paint of blowing all the points in a tempestuous clash with Tauranga Sports at Tauranga Domain on Saturday.
Leading 20-8 at halftime, and 25-8 soon after the restart, Opotiki were guilty of trying to protect, rather than stretch, their buffer and almost paid the price as Tauranga Sports finally clicked into gear, realising rugby is a game built on possession and phases and it takes more than one or two to crack most club teams open.
Replacement prop Pingi Talaapitaga locked the game up at 25-all in the 76th minute and first-five Nick Evemy, who had a poor day with the boot, had two cracks at snatching victory, hitting the upright in his conversion attempt and then missing with a drop goal from 25m in the final minute.
Elmiger , the former Steamers hooker who has gone to No8 - where most frontrowers go when they no longer want to be at the coalface of the scrum - led a dominant loose forward trio but was left lamenting Opotiki's inability to close the game out.
"Any points here are hard-earned, and we knew that coming over, and we were always going to have to battle to the end if we wanted the win." Elmiger said.
"With that wind [at Tauranga's backs] we knew they'd come back into it in the second half and we were guilty of going into defensive mode rather than keeping on attacking.
"We talked about taking the game to them but it's hard when you've got a fairly handy lead because the [inclination] is to defend it. It's a shame we went into our shells but a draw is probably a fair result."
Opotiki, who have survived but hardly threatened in the premiership since winning promotion several seasons ago, feel 2012 could be their year to crack the top four. They were up to second a couple of weeks back before being tipped over by competition pacesetters Te Puke Sports, but with twins Te Amo and Hata Wilbore back from Scottish club Border and starting to take a bigger hand in directing the side there's a lot to like about Opotiki, including the fact that all bar two of their 22-strong squad on Saturday were born and bred in the Eastern Bay township.
"We're happy with where we're at right now," Elmiger said, "with a pretty good mix of young fellas starting to come through and a few of us old heads still around. We're chasing semifinals and confident we're good enough, and the twins have brought a different dimension, a bit of razzle-dazzle, to the side.
"We're not there yet but we'll keep having a go."
It was nearly all one-way traffic in the first half, with lock Richard Pereneki crossing first for Opotiki after first-five Te Amo Wilbore broke Tauranga Sports apart from halfway, with halfback Sam Howe converting and adding a penalty for a 13-3 lead after Evemy shrugged off a couple of early misses to finally land a close-range effort.
A bust from fullback Steve Honey sparked wing Nick Thompson's try, although it also spelled the end of Honey's involvement as he limped off with a knee injury.
Elmiger extended the lead when he peeled off the back of a scrum and proved unstoppable from 15m against a slow-to-react Tauranga defensive line, with some Wilbore wizardry pushing Opotiki out even further in the 53rd minute when Hata's crossfield kick was pocketed by a gassed-up Amo for a superb one-two effort out wide.
That sparked Tauranga, who finally started to string some phase play together, utilising their mammoth pack against the tiring Opotiki forwards to create holes further out, with wing Philip Togotogorua and Evemy bullying their way over to cut the gap to five (Evemy missing both conversions) before Evemy and centre Aifai Esara put Talaapitaga over, the big prop carrying four tacklers over the line with him.
Evemy's miss from left of the uprights created more drama, with Tauranga positioning themselves nicely to snatch it but unable to find a kicker who could put the ball through the sticks.
Meanwhile, an injury crisis is starting to take its toll on last year's grand finalists Whakarewarewa as the team goes another week without a win.
Taking on Mount Maunganui at Blake Park, Whaka turned a near-certain win into a 20-20 draw.
Leading 17-7 at halftime, Whaka suffered another season-ending injury to midfielder Courtney Mita, a dislocated shoulder, the second in a week after flanker Liam Coleman suffered a compound fracture to his left thumb.
It was all Whaka coach Kevin Lee needed, when he had already had gone into the game with only one forward and one back reserve.
In other matches in the premier division, Rangataua registered a morale-boosting win with a 52-21 drubbing of Waikite in Rotorua.
Rotoiti came back from 18-0 down in the first half to pick up their first win in four weeks with a 26-18 win over Greerton Marist at Greerton and Te Puke Sports keep their unblemished record with a 27-20 victory at Murray Salt Stadium over Te Puna.