Rugby: Waipu scramble to victory

Rupeni Vosayaco takes on Hikurangi second-five Chris Philips during Waipu's 39-16 win. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Waipu have secured a valuable, 39-16, win over Hikurangi in round 10 of the Bayleys Southern Districts Premiers, however their victory didn't come without a fight.

Looking to rest some of his more valuable assets, a narrow 13-11 lead at halftime spurred Waipu coach Mark Wells to make some crucial changes in the second half.

"We did run away with it at the end but it was only after we brought on some of the bigger boys that we were trying to rest," Wells said. One vital substitution was the bringing on of first-five Ben Mathers - a key pivot to Waipu's credentials as top five performers throughout the season.

With Mathers in the mix for the last 25 minutes, Hikurangi's dreams of an upset at Caledonian Park were put on the back burner.

"He turned the game on at 10," Wells said. "The plan wasn't really to use them [players on rest] but we found ourselves in a position where we had to. We knew Hikurangi would battle hard and that it would take a while to work them down."

Hikurangi coach Quentin Cherrington said "on the day, you just can't beat class".

"I think we were in the game for 60-65 minutes. We had a plan, the planned worked, and we pretty much upset their structure. I was pretty happy with that. When they changed their first-five they actually got their structure going and we couldn't compete in that area so she was pretty tough."

Hampered by the loss of first-five Caleb Houltham by an "innocuous" clean-out at a ruck didn't help Hikurangi's situation. Houltham suffered a potential dislocated shoulder and after being led off the field by medics, Hikurangi's chances of a win were sidelined also.

In other round-10 matches, Otamatea crippled the dominance of Wellsford with a 39-23 win at Maungaturoto while Old Boys beat Mid Western 26-24 in Whangarei.

Mid Northern hosted Hora Hora and were lucky to come away with their tight 32-26 win, while the Western Sharks secured a 27-17 win at home versus an ailing Kamo side.