The visitors were completely on top of Hora Hora before impressive hooker Taz Nathan darted from dummy half to get his side on the board.
Portland pounced on another Hora Hora in the closing stages of the first half as John-Rudi Wright scored but the home side cancelled out that effort with halfback Tahu Tawhiwhirangi mirroring his opposing half's try.
Portland led 28-12 at the break and within 10 minutes they looked like they had sewn up the result as they scored two quick tries through Wall and McQueen.
Hora Hora desperately needed to score tries to overcome a 26-point deficit and they came in an eight-minute spurt.
Nathan crossed for his second try after stepping three defenders before prop Josh Roughan and Tawhiwhirangi brought the gap back to 10.
Hora Hora had all the momentum and looked like they were about to bring the match within one try but a wayward pass allowed Portland to get into attacking territory.
Wall picked up the loose pass and raced 70 metres but a sterling effort from Hora Hora winger Jimmy Edmonds-Tito held him up over the line.
Despite that effort, Portland scored on the next play to put the game out of reach at 44-30.
Hora Hora kept fighting but Portland had the final say as centre Damon Begnon's try brought up a half century of points right at the final whistle.
Meanwhile defending champions Moerewa Tigers held out Takahiwai Warriors in a replay of the 2017 Grand Final.
Takahiwai were impressive and will no doubt be in the reckoning come the business end of the season but Moerewa did enough to win a tense match 24-22.
The final match of the round between Otangarei Knights and Northern Wairoa Bulls again gave the fans a high-scoring thriller with a more than a century of points being totalled.
Otangarei found themselves on the right side of the ledger as they took the 66-36 win.
