Twenty minutes was all it took for a rampant Tauranga Sports to wipe the slate clean and bury Rotoiti's season under an avalanche of tries, although it's the next 240 minutes that will decide whether the Baywide premier title spends the next 12 months at Tauranga Domain.
Tauranga Sports were irrepressible at the Domain on Saturday, blitzing Rotoiti 78-5 in a relentless display that saw them bag seven tries in the opening 40 alone.
Just as Tauranga Sports were embarrassed the week before with their shock loss to Rangataua, a side they put 99 points on in the opening round, Rotoiti were fodder, although surprisingly remain in the hunt for a top four playoffs spot.
It's hard to see how. They were roadkill from the get-go against a fired-up Sports, with any expectation the large crowd had of a contest killed off in the first quarter as Tauranga careered to a 26-0 lead on the back of two tries each to centre Jeremy Cave and wing Nick Thompson.
Cave, a big, hard-running midfielder who aspires to play for the Bay of Plenty Steamers this season, said it was a palpable attitude adjustment from the embarrassment of the week before.
"It was probably more a feeling of shock [following the loss to Rangataua] because none of us could quite believe it had happened. We came out today with a bit to prove and really wanted to put it to Rotoiti. It was important we showed it was just a bit of a hiccup."
Rotoiti were flat and passive, two words not usually assigned to the lakesiders, and played as if there was nothing on the line, which couldn't have been further from the truth.
They were hammered by referee Bryce Lawrence early in the penalty count and whacked again by Sports, with their midfield leaking woefully from the start as big runs from lock Bob McGregor, prop Pingi Talaapitaga, second-five Aifai Esara and fullback Steve Honey all laid on tries.
Cave ended the game with four tries and Thompson with three, with Rotoiti's sole touchdown, early in the second 40 to first-five Whakataki Cunningham, having more than an air of consolation about it.
In the end Tauranga were lining up to score, emptying their bench to give the splinter bums a trot, with McGregor also poleaxing Rotoiti flanker Luke Cassidy and player-coach Wayne Ormond with two huge, and legal, hits that sent ripples up the grandstand. Cassidy lay prone for several minutes before being assisted off.
Cave said it was that sort of 80-minute attitude Sports would need to take into the next two (potentially three) weeks of rugby. Any notion Tauranga were flattered by the blowout scoreline was wrong.
"They just never saw the ball in that first half. The forwards took it to them and gave us backs some good ball and we had a set pattern to play to and kept it going.
"Last week we lacked the attitude and didn't go through the same routines we usually go through before the game," Cave said. "Today we prepared properly before the game ... The coaches pretty much left it to us during the week and put the onus on us to bring what we wanted to out there.
"We worked out what we wanted to do and that 80 minutes will be huge for the next couple of weeks as we build towards hitting our straps for when the semis come ... We saw last week that we can't afford to sit back and rest up."
Competition leaders Te Puke Sports, who will take top seeding into next week's playoffs, also produced a stunner, with Steamers first-five Nick McCashin remarkably converting all 12 of his side's tries as they pounded Whakarewarewa 84-12 at Murray Salt Stadium.
Playing his 50th game for Te Puke, McCashin added to his perfect kicking stats with two tries to bag 34 points. National sevens rep Jack Wilson's try spree continued with four, with John Corbett, Nathan Harris, Andy Lee, Gideon Uelese, Mike Flood and Troy Scott scoring one each.
Opotiki missed a golden chance to improve their playoff odds when they were pipped 21-20 by Mt Maunganui at Blake Park. Opotiki's Te Amo Wilbore scored in the opening minute before tries to Mount's Chris Elvin, Sam Hughes and Greg Pleasant Tate gave them a 21-14 halftime lead, with two Wilbore penalties the only scoring in the second half.
Te Puna made hard work of getting past relegation-bound Waikite in Rotorua, eking out a narrow 19-15 victory to move into third spot and within touching distances of the semis. Greerton Marist and Rangataua have both dodged the relegation bullet this season, with Greerton triumphing at home on Saturday 40-29.
As it stands, with a week of round-robin to play, Te Puke and Tauranga fill the top two spots, with Te Puna (52), Opotiki (50) and Rotoiti (49) all fighting for the last three places in the playoffs.