Hastings' depth was again highlighted when New Zealand under-20s lock Geoff Cridge, prop Dennis Tapusua and centre Ioane Ioane all came off the bench and scored tries. Captain and prop Jason Long again had 40 minutes on each side of the scrum in a player-of-the-match performance for the hosts.
Former Samoa World Series Sevens player Tom Iosefo and Adam Ross both had stints at halfback and wing.
Lock Ben Parsons and hooker Aaron McGrail were others to impress for Hastings.
Centre Taniela Ofa, veteran lock Sven Hogenesch and Aussie first five-eighth Kyle Beakey were Clive's best.
Taradale 35 Tech 14
Unbeaten Carters Frame and Truss Taradale retained the Hawke's Bay Challenge Shield and competition lead with this comfortable home-ground victory.
A rampant first half from the Mighty Maroons saw them establish a 28-0 halftime lead.
Their cohesion, accuracy and communication during this spell was first class. Hooker Mike Sosene-Feagai made some powerful carries and loosies Kaleb Sweet, Tom Stanley and Mark Atkins were devastating.
The platform they set made it easy for their halfback-first five-eighth combination of Chris Eaton and Manihera Eden to create space and time for their outside backs.
Tech Group of Companies Napier Technical's first half display was woeful. It lacked structure on attack and on defence too many first-up tackles were missed often as a result of poor line speed.
Positives for Tech included their powerful scrum and superior ability to adapt to the rulings of referee Alister Mains in the second spell when they conceded two penalties, 11 less than Taradale.
In just his second outing of the season for Tech prop Mark Braidwood was a whirlwind of endeavour. Tech loosies Hugh Reed and Levi Guildford can also be proud of their contributions.
NOBM 78 Tamatea 3
Hawke's Bay Insurances Limited Napier Old Boys Marist produced a polished rehearsal for this weekend's top-of-the-table clash with Taradale with this Park Island walloping.
NOBM ran in 12 tries while keeping Tamatea tryless.
However, the win came at a cost with workaholic flanker Sean Skeet sustaining a fractured cheekbone.
"Our biggest positive was the fact we kept our structure for the whole game," NOBM manager Mike Smith said.
His halfback-first five-eighth combination of Ellery Wilson and Tyrone Elkington-Macdonald functioned well while lock Tom Bywater made a memorable debut for the hosts.
Tamatea co-coach Aaron Painter said, "Our performance reflected our poor turnouts at trainings this week. But ... NOBM were pretty polished and had 95 per cent of the first-half possession. Missed tackles and a lack of ball let us down."
First five-eighth Alesana Brown and second five-eighth Vailoa Kereti were the pick of the visitors.
Pirate 19 MAC 15
Tanalised Napier Pirate Rugby and Sports put the first dent in MAC's new Flaxmere Park fortress with this win.
The visitors did well to recover from an early 10-3 deficit to lead 13-8 at halftime. Halfback Matt Murtha and midfielders Matt Hill and Jackson Neilson were constructive in the winning backline while tighthead prop Kelsey Miller had his best game of the season in the Pirate pack.
"We had our opportunities but lacked the necessary accuracy. We didn't have enough patience and spilled a lot of ball," MAC head coach Anthony Morley said.
Busy No8 Jaamin Pere was outstanding in his first game of the season for MAC after returning from work commitments and halfback Colin Hokianga was again lively.
Havelock Nth 39 Central 13
Defending champions Progressive Meats Havelock North displayed vast improvement on the previous week's display with this win against Northfuels Central at Waipukurau.
The villagers co-coach and former Magpie Luke Ottley provided much-needed grunt to the pack from No8.
Second-string halfback Junior Armstrong and first five-eighth J'ndre Liebenberg provided numerous attacking chances for their outside backs.
Central competed well for most of the first half but struggled when the Havelock backs were in top gear. Lock Nigel Walshe and No8 Gareth Fergusson toiled tirelessly in the losing pack while co-coach and former All Black Sevens rep Tafai Ioasa was the best of the host backs.
