Rugby: Te Puke and Opotiki battle for unbeaten tag

It's the clash of the titans today as unbeaten teams Te Puke and Opotiki square off at the Tai Mitchell primary schools rugby tournament in kiwifruit country.

Hosts Te Puke laid down the gauntlet to their other nine rivals on the opening day when they led Rotorua Gold 46-0 at halftime, going on to a 72-12 win.

They downed defending champions Rotorua Maroon 58-3 on Saturday in a surprisingly one-way game before two contrasting wins yesterday.

First up, Te Puke posted a comfortable win 53-10 over Tauranga East 53-10 in the morning round at Paengaroa before scrambling past Tauranga West - but not before they had to pull out all the stops.

Trailing 7-0 at halftime, Te Puke needed tries from Levi Hartley and Josh Buckton to grab a narrow 10-7 victory.

Opotiki have won all their games apart from a 17-all draw with Galatea and will take on Te Puke today, having pushed the title favourites closest in preseason. Rotorua Maroon continued their day three renaissance with a 34-14 win over Rangitaiki, Galatea continuing their improved showing defeating Rotorua Gold 14-12, Opotiki got past Apanui 24-5, with Tauranga East beating Whakatane 27-5.

Te Puke co-coach Rameka Poihipi said they were fortunate to still be heading their group after coming up against a strong West side yesterday.

"They needed a bit of a rev-up at halftime because a couple of simple errors and we were 7-0 down. We're anticipating a close one against Opotiki - it's crunch time because after four games everyone's starting to feel a bit sore and tired."

The size of the win over Maroon was a surprise, the former Bay of Plenty halfback said.

"We knew next to nothing about them but went into the game having played alright on the first day. Once the boys started running properly we pulled away."